


Living Vicariously

by VigoGrimborne



Series: 'Living' [1]
Category: How to Train Your Dragon (Movies)
Genre: Action/Adventure, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Friendship, Leaving Home
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-10
Updated: 2020-06-10
Packaged: 2021-03-04 03:07:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 40
Words: 209,486
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24636562
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/VigoGrimborne/pseuds/VigoGrimborne
Summary: A small disturbance can cause an avalanche, metaphorically speaking. Small changes in how events play out, caused by little changes in how the world works can have a big impact on unexpected people. (Diehard fans of Astrid, consider yourselves warned. You might not like what is coming.) AU. Starts off like the first movie, veers massively away from the original by chapter 9.
Relationships: Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III & Toothless
Series: 'Living' [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1781299
Comments: 11
Kudos: 108





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's note:**

**To my AO3 readers, just note that this was the first story I ever wrote. It’s my most popular work to date (by a margin of tens of thousands of views), but it’s going to show its age a bit. Bear with it, the writing improves dramatically once I get a beta reader, and once I get a few dozen chapters under my belt.**

**Now, back to the original author’s note.**

**It may be helpful to know that as per my policy with stories, this particular story is fully written. I am still entirely open to editing as a result of things brought up in reviews though. As such, this story will update roughly once a week (ideally every Friday, but I sadly cannot guarantee that) and will have a total of 34 chapters, including the epilogue. It will have permanently diverged from the plot of the first movie by chapter 9. T rating is for a few rare bits of violence.**

**Also, for anyone who follows this story, know that I slightly retooled this chapter, though nothing major changed. I felt that it needed a bit of polishing.**

The Queen was growing hungry. As she considered her hunger, she decided that tonight would be a night she led a raid on a Viking village, in order to satiate her hunger. She would lead it personally, as usual. Well, as personally as a dragon that never physically left the confines of her volcanic home could lead a raid on a place miles away. For her, that was far more so than one might expect.

She began the routine of selecting one of the hundreds of dragons she had enthralled here in the volcano. Though honestly, her only real choice was between her two prize subjects. She chose one of the two at random. The unlucky one had his mind further invaded by the Queen, who seized control of his senses and physical self. Fully immersed, her consciousness was almost entirely concentrated in controlling this dragon. In this way, she was able to personally lead raids without ever risking herself. But, really, was not any dragon she completely and utterly controlled as an extension of her will, not for all purposes her self? Her only regret was that she was not able to do this to more than one dragon at a time. How glorious it would be to fight as an army, every member of it under her complete control. Maybe someday. For now, she could not even control her own body while controlling another.

She contemplated this as her stolen body took flight, and directed her thralls towards the nearest Viking village. For now, she had to settle for taking one dragon and leading her thralls into battle. For this purpose, the best choice was obviously a Night Fury. Not only were they fast and powerful, they had a little something extra. In what she considered a pale imitation of her abilities, Night Furies, at least under her control, were able to see through the senses of another, lesser creature, such as a Terrible Terror or bird. However, they, and by extension, she, were unable to do anything but observe.

This both vexed and pleased the queen. Vexed, because it seemed a slap in the face of her inability to control more than one dragon at once, as even using another dragon's abilities she was unable to do anything but observe through secondary subjects. Pleased, because that meant the only dragon even close to being a threat to her was so much weaker than she herself was.

The raid was approaching the island of interest. She could see through her stolen eyes the lights of the structures that marked food and danger for her thralls, though she didn't really care about that. She commanded her thralls to remain unseen for the moment and directed her stolen body down towards the forest. She searched fruitlessly for a few moments. Then, she spotted a Terror hiding under a log. She grabbed it with her thrall's nimble claws, not caring that she drew a little blood. Through her thrall, she made eye contact and had her thrall create a link, as only the Night Furies could do. And then there were three. She took the Terror back into the air, before dropping it on the outskirts of the village, unseen by anyone. She sent her thrall into the air and had it concentrate on the perception of the Terror. A few moments was all it took to see where the food was stored, and to make sure there were no humans lying in wait. She could have used a thrall for this, but there was no reason to. Sometimes such scouts didn't come back. She had no control over the Terror through this link, and so it flew away, fleeing the island.

That was annoying. There were only a few ways to break such a link, and she would have to chase the Terror down later. For that, its death would be slow and painful. Having done this so very many times, she knew exactly how to ensure that.

Annoyed but content, she returned to her thralls and gave the order to attack. They did so, and the flightless inhabitants of this place raised the alarm in an attempt to defend the food that she felt was rightfully hers. In order to maximize distraction, and thus food retrieved, the queen used her stolen self to destroy lookout towers. It was something she enjoyed doing, and a convenient way to do damage while keeping this valuable vessel out of harm's way. She had experienced the death of a few vessels over the course of the last three hundred years, and it was something she very much disliked. Living vicariously was pure profit, but dying vicariously was not so enjoyable.

As a result of this, when she felt something unexpected wrap around her proxy's body, right after she blasted another tower, her reaction was swift. After discerning that the body in question was plummeting towards land at high speed, and unable to do anything but wail in frustration as its wings were ensnared, she swiftly began pulling out. As her consciousness receded, she cut her connection to the unfortunate dragon in question altogether, in order to avoid his death in the next few seconds. She took a moment to reorient herself, back in her original body in the volcano.

She was not very happy. The queen sent her consciousness out once more, to a random thrall that happened to be participating in the raid. After immersing herself once more in a foreign host, she took control of the raid and directed it to its completion. As she flew herself back with the thralls, she examined the catch. Adequate, though not quite what she would have liked in terms of quantity, given what it had ended up costing her. That had been one of her two favorite thralls for leading raids. One of her two Night Furies, and the younger of the two. Oh well. She still had one more. With this thought, the one-track mind of the queen nearly forgot completely that she had ever had another Night Fury. What was not now would not be remembered. The loss of life for one thrall, however rare the thrall in question was, was inconsequential.

She piloted her commandeered body towards her nest, along with all of the others. She saw, with no empathy or regret, the other Night Fury frantically searching the returning raiders. When the other Night Fury saw her, or more accurately the slit pupils that were the only outward sign the Queen controlled a host, it despaired and flew away sadly. She wasn't worried about it trying to leave. No thrall could leave the nest and the waters immediately around it, except on raids. And no thrall could kill themselves. They had no choice but to obey her orders, and that was always one of the first. She would not lose thralls to such things. They lived to fight and die for her, to feed her. Nothing else. They died _for_ her, not to get away from her.

She would have to consider taking revenge on that specific place at some point. It had killed one of her most valuable servants. What she did not know was that the dragon in question was not dead. Not yet. And thus, in her arrogance, the queen voluntarily forgot about a potential future enemy. One with a very personal reason to hate her, beyond his own enslavement. However unlikely that possibility might have been. And as she had completely cut her control to avoid his death, she had no idea what came next.

She did not see through his eyes as he was found by the one who shot him down. As the human looked down, raised his knife, and then after a few moments drooped in despair. And as the human freed her once-thrall.

She was unable to use him to kill the boy in question, as she would have done if she had been aware of any of this. And so when he spared the boy for some unidentifiable reason, there was no one around to correct him, to force him to act.

She did not know what came after that, for she was unaware there was an after for that dragon. But the dragon was aware there was an after. He was confused, disoriented. He had taken a blow to the head, and certain parts of his memory were cloudy, unclear. Faces, names. He was injured, grounded. But he was free. The Queen had removed herself entirely. And so, the lonely and frightened dragon was free to act for himself. Free to make his own choices. And tired of violence, he chose to interact, instead of attack. That is where this story begins.


	2. Chapter 2

As he sat there, drawing in the sand, Hiccup took the time to wonder what the heck was wrong with him. For fifteen years, he had wanted to be a Viking like everyone else. Like his father. Despite the stupidity of the average Viking, a Viking was what Hiccup wanted to be. Not even an exceptionally awesome Viking, he would have settled for being an average Viking, and done so happily. He would aim to be the best Viking ever, of course, but he would have settled for average. Therefore, when he set his sights on killing a dragon as the feat to offset his sarcasm and reputation in the village, he decided on a Night Fury, the only dragon no one had ever seen.

He supposed he had done that, at least. Seen a Night Fury. Not that he could tell anyone, but he had seen one. Multiple times. In fact, there was one not thirty yards away from him right now. Not that he was looking in that direction, of course. The reason he couldn't tell anyone about all of this was simple. When he had found the dragon, wounded and trapped in his bola, he was fully intending to remove some vital organ and present it as proof of his deed (because there was no way he could carry this thing anywhere, let alone all the way back to the village). The problem was before he did anything, he had looked into its eyes. He had looked into its eyes, and seen a very familiar fear and despair. At that moment, he had realized it wasn't in him to kill a helpless creature, especially one who seemed to reflect himself.

That was all well and good, and the creature had returned the favor by not killing him after he released it. In retrospect, not the smartest move. Although, after realizing that he couldn't do the one thing that would redeem him in the eyes of the village, he hadn't had and still didn't have much to lose.

His thoughts turned to slightly more recent events. He wanted to earn the trust of this dragon. Why he wasn't sure. The only reason he could name was guilt. He was sure there had to be other reasons, but he couldn't identify them. It was ironic though, that he trusted this dragon enough to turn his back on it. He didn't trust any of the villagers enough to tell them about letting the Night Fury go, and he definitely didn't trust any of the other teens. Except maybe Astrid, though that might be more due to other qualities than trustworthiness.

Hiccup began to draw a new picture. Absentmindedly, he considered the face of the dragon in question. Halfway through, he heard a gurgling groan from something on his right side. He knew what it had to be, but continued drawing as if he hadn't noticed. Every time he had tried to get close to the dragon it had fled. This time he would let it decide how close it wanted to be. He finished the drawing, the Night Fury by his side occasionally making noises of interest. As he finished, it got up and walked out of his peripheral vision. He heard a loud crack, that of a tree snapping, and turned to see exactly what it was doing.

The dragon (he had to find a better name for it than just Night Fury) had snapped a young tree off at its base, was dragging it back over to Hiccup. He watched in awe as the dragon proceeded to draw a nonsensical squiggly line around him. Satisfied with its line, the dragon added a single dot with his tree. Then it changed its mind and decided to continue the line, smacking Hiccup with the branches of the tree as it passed him. Hiccup was too amazed to notice. The dragon stopped again and seemed to be finished. Hiccup stood in the center of the vaguely circle-shaped path of the lines. He looked around in confusion, trying to see if the lines made a picture when all seen at once. As he stepped forward in an attempt to better see the whole thing, the dragon suddenly growled. Hiccup froze and looked down to see that he was stepping on one of the Fury's lines. He raised his foot. The dragon relaxed and purred. Intrigued, Hiccup lowered his foot. More growling. Raised his foot. Purring. Lowered his foot. Growling and threatening posture. Raised his foot and stepped over. The purring resumed.

Now understanding what the dragon wanted, Hiccup focused on getting out of the tangled maze of lines around him. As he stepped backward and weaved through the lines, he forgot where the dragon was standing. Therefore, he was quite surprised to back almost into its chest.

Hiccup turned and tentatively looked the dragon in the eye. It seemed calm. He slowly raised his hand towards it, and it growled softly. He remembered what he had decided earlier. He was going to let the dragon decide. He lowered his head and looked the other direction. And he raised his hand. Trusting the dragon not to remove it at its leisure. And the dragon lightly pushed its nose into his palm.

He looked at it. The dragon's eyes were closed. As he watched, they opened, and the dragon snorted. He had just enough time to notice its pupils narrow before something happened.

In an instant, he had a splitting headache. It was as if a group of Vikings had decided to practice their hammer skills inside his skull. It was so bad his vision doubled, and he fell to the ground. Thankfully, the pain mostly faded after a few moments, though he still didn't feel right. Instead of a blinding pain, it was now more of a dull throb in the corner of his head.

As he regained his senses, he noticed something. The Night Fury had also apparently collapsed. He shakily stood as the dragon stirred, moaning softly. Hiccup worried for a moment that it had been hurt worse than he had by whatever that was. He was relieved that it also seemed to be shaking off the effects quickly. "That was weird," he said as he stood up.

'Agreed'.

Hiccup blinked. He hadn't heard the voice with his ears, he couldn't tell where it had come from. But he had still heard it. He was about to dismiss it as a hallucination when the dragon bolted upright. He might have been more concerned if he hadn't been distracted by something in his own mind. That little pocket of dull pain had disappeared and in its place was something... foreign. He concentrated on it, and it expanded to fill his vision.

He could still see the cove, but it was different. Through his rising panic and curiosity, he struggled to understand what was different about it. He was pretty sure he was seeing it from a different angle, and he was now looking at a different side of the cove. The colors were a bit more vibrant, and it seemed much brighter out than he thought it had been. He realized now that he could hear far more than he could a second ago. With this, he wondered about his other senses. Hiccup realized that he could smell way more than before, most of which consisted of scents he had no name for. Intrigued, he mentally checked on his sense of touch. What he found was both strange and familiar. He could still feel his own limbs and body, though he could not see them. However, he could also sense another body, the one he presumed was the rightful owner of this strange perception. At this moment he realized what he was seeing. He was seeing and hearing, and smelling, the cove through the senses of the Night Fury.

The moment he realized that he panicked slightly. Would he be able to return to his own senses? He focused on himself and was immensely relieved to see the alternate perception shrink to the original corner of his mind that it had inhabited. However, he was unable to make it go away entirely, though at this size it was almost imperceptible.

These discoveries and strange new senses had only taken up a few seconds of time, and in that time the Night Fury had been still and silent. Hiccup stared at it and noticed that it was hyperventilating. "Are you... alright?" he asked, concerned despite the situation.

The dragon screeched and jumped several feet into the air. It twisted midair in order to land facing Hiccup, and the look on its face was one of abject shock, with pupils thinner than Hiccup had ever seen. They stood like that for a moment. A small, startled teenager and a large, alert black dragon, staring at each other with identical expressions of shock.

Little did Hiccup know that it was about to get much weirder.

'This is not what was supposed to happen!' Hiccup heard this statement distinctly, and the tone was one of confusion and bewilderment, tinged with more than a hint of fear. Having just investigated the strange new corner of his mind, Hiccup easily traced the origin of the voice to the pocket of foreign sensations. Foreign Night Fury sensations... He stared at the dragon.

Hiccup decided to let the logical, detached section of his brain take over for the time being. "What do you mean, supposed to happen?" he asked aloud, not really directing the question at the dragon. There was still a chance this was the work of some third party, and he wasn't-

'I mean that you shouldn't be able to access my senses, or even know I can access yours!'

Well, there went that theory. He was definitely hearing the dragon... think, he supposed, though he was pretty sure he wasn't hearing its every thought. Wait. Not it. Given the voice Hiccup could hear, definitely a 'he'.

Hiccup decided to refocus on getting answers. "Why shouldn't I be able to do this. Wait, scratch that. What is this, and why can I hear. A. Dragon!" By the end of this question, Hiccup was back to panic and didn't want to be here anymore. He was pretty sure the shock of the situation was wearing off because he was becoming increasingly aware of how wrong all of this was.

The dragon padded over to him and butted its head against his chest while swiping its tail behind him to both trip him and cushion his fall. When he looked up, the dragon was staring back at him from slightly above and in front of him. He noticed in some distant corner of his mind that its pupils had expanded again, though not quite as wide as they had been a few minutes ago.

'Calm down. You don't see me panicking.'

Despite the situation, Hiccup felt like he had to point something out. "You were a second ago. You jumped five feet straight up."

The dragon snorted. 'That was shock, not panic.'

"Yeah, I'm sure. Well, I think my panicking when something weird shows up IN MY HEAD is a perfectly normal reaction."

The dragon chuffed softly and rearranged himself and by extension Hiccup, who hadn't moved off of his tail. They ended up with Hiccup leaning against the dragon's side, its tail curled back around to rest the end across his outstretched legs. Whether or not that was to keep him from bolting in fear, Hiccup wasn't sure. He decided to ask.

"What's the tail for?"

The dragon stared at him. 'To knock some sense into you if you start panicking again.'

Hiccup gulped. "Duly noted." They sat in silence for a few moments. Hiccup felt he had to break it. "So... what exactly is going on?" He was doing his best to quash the spreading tendrils of fear and panic, and get some answers while he could think coherently.

The dragon let out a long sigh, which caused the side Hiccup was leaning on to deflate slightly for a moment. 'That would be a really long story. The short answer is, I used a mental trick on you. It did more than it should have.'

Hiccup didn't like the sound of that. "What was it supposed to do?"

The dragon snorted in irritation. 'It was supposed to give me access to your senses, nothing more, and it definitely wasn't supposed to let you hear me in your head, or access my senses.' Hiccup really didn't like that. "And when exactly did I give you permission to commandeer part of my brain? That's not something you do without at least asking first!"

The dragon snorted. 'It's for your good as well as mine, and how was I supposed to ask? I didn't know what we are doing now was even possible. I couldn't even understand you speaking before this."

Hiccup considered that. "What do you mean, for my good?"

'Well, besides the unintended side effect of us communicating, I wanted to tag along with your senses to make sure you weren't going to change your mind and betray me to the others of your kind.'

Hiccup blinked. "How would that be good for me? Or you for that matter. You wouldn't be able to stop me..." He hesitated. "Would you?"

The dragon stared at him, pupils slightly narrowing. 'No. But I would be forewarned.'

"And how would that be good for me?"

'I would be able to stop you from killing me, something you had just proven you didn't really want to do. Think of it as me protecting us both from the consequences of your actions.' Hiccup snorted. "You know, you're quite full of yourself."

'It comes with being one of the most deadly dragons in existence.' the dragon said, not entirely serious.

Hiccup wasn't quite sure how to respond to that. On the one hand, the claim was ridiculously self-centered, and he would have gladly poked holes in it with his sarcasm. On the other hand, maybe taunting a massive fire-breathing reptile with more than enough arrogance might not be the smartest idea. He let it pass as another thought struck him. "That reminds me, do you have a name? I can't just keep referring to you as 'the dragon' or 'the night fury'.

The dragon gave him a strange look. 'You know, I'm not sure I do. I can't remember. Actually, I can't remember any names." His eyes narrowed. Hiccup felt bad. This was obviously upsetting the Night Fury.

"Hey, I can give you a name. At least until you remember your real one."

The Night Fury's pupils returned to their expanded state as he exhaled. 'I think I would like that. But be sure it fits my dangerous and magnificent appearance!' he said, puffing his chest out and looking as regal as possible, though the slump in his wings implied he still wasn't very happy.

Hiccup grinned. "When I think of something, I'll let you know." As he said that, he casually glanced at the sky. And realized that the cove was getting dark. And remembered that he was supposed to meet the rest of the dragon-training class on top of the watchtower after sundown. The cove was a good forty-five minutes from the village. And it was sundown now. "Oh man. I am so gonna be late. I've gotta go!" Hiccup scrambled to his feet and turned to face the dragon. "I'll come back tomorrow with more fish. It's the least I can do after kinda trapping you here..." He trailed off, wondering a bit too late if the dragon knew he was responsible for the bola. He hoped so, because if he didn't before he definitely did now. Luckily for him, the dragon only shifted and laid back down.

'This should be interesting. I'll see you tomorrow.'

Hiccup didn't stop to take in the dragon's parting words, as he was far more interested in making it back to the village before it became too dark to see. He realized as he made his way through the underbrush that he had accepted conversing with a dragon fairly easily, past the initial shock. He supposed it helped that the dragon wasn't dismissive or rude like... well, everyone else in his life. The refreshing feeling of conversing with someone who didn't remember the various infamous actions of 'Hiccup the Useless' seemed to override the source of said conversation.

By now, it was almost completely dark out, and Hiccup knew his time was running out. He resigned himself to being late. Hopefully, Gobber wouldn't mind. As he moved back towards the village and his normal life, he considered a very unusual question. What to call a Night Fury. He immediately ruled out anything noble or imposing. No need to further inflate that ego. He needed something that truthfully described the dragon, but didn't encourage his arrogance. The problem was, he couldn't think of any feature of a dragon, much less a Night Fury, that wasn't scary or noble. He stopped for a moment to catch his breath. Then he remembered. The dragon in question was capable of retracting his teeth. When he did, he looked silly. That worked. Retractable teeth...

That's what he would call him. Toothless. That decided, Hiccup resumed his quick traversal of the forest. He still harbored the faint hope that he would make it to the watchtower on time.


	3. Chapter 3

Nope. He was definitely late. He might not have been too late if he had left immediately after making contact with Toothless, but the time it took him to come to terms with what had happened pushed his lateness from tolerable to inexcusable. He knew this as he climbed the stairs up to the top of the watchtower, where Gobber and the teens were roasting food and talking around the firepit in the center of the conical stone tower. He just hoped Gobber wouldn't call attention to his lateness. The other teens needed no additional justification to try and make his life miserable.

As he moved into view, Gobber stopped talking and stared at him ominously. The other teens slowly quieted as they noticed him. Snotlout sniggered and elbowed Tuffnut. Gobber glared at Hiccup. "Next time, ye get here before the event in question is almost over, ye hear me Hiccup? I dinnea want to hear yer excuses. Let this happen again, and ye get to clean out the arena cages for a week." With that, he went back to the chicken on his prosthetic arm skewer.

Hiccup would maybe have responded with some sort of comment, but he was busy trying to not visibly freak out over something else.

'Hiccup? Your name is Hiccup? Well, whatever you decide to call me, it can't be worse than that!'

He had heard the voice he associated with Toothless in his head, just like earlier. Only, this time he was pretty sure the Night Fury in question was nowhere near here. He stumbled over to the nearest empty seat and absent-mindedly grabbed a fish and skewer as his mind raced. He connected a few things the dragon had said earlier. Ignoring some asinine argument between Snotlout and the twins, he spoke, so softly that only he could hear it and his lips barely moved. That was the point. "Are you watching through my eyes?" As he had feared, the reply came swiftly.

'And listening through your ears, and so on. What gives you that impression?' Here the voice took on a very familiar sarcastic tone. 'The fact that I found out your name without ever leaving this natural prison? That was just my draconic intuition.'

Hiccup couldn't reply immediately, because Astrid was watching him with a suspicious look on her face. Hiccup guessed that he hadn't hidden his seemingly random shock very well. He tried to look normal and smiled at her. She glared at him before jerking her stare away from him. Success. He had gotten the girl of his dreams to stop staring at him.

Trying to look normal (something he had been incapable of all his life) he resumed muttering under his breath. "Yeah, it's my name. Now stop using my senses please."

'But this is way more interesting than my view right now. Look and see for yourself.'

Against his better judgment, Hiccup was curious to see if he could still use Toothless's senses from a distance. He made sure no one was watching him or trying to get his attention, before trying to replicate what he had done earlier today. The lump of information that had been sitting dormant in his mind expanded once more, and he was once again in the cove. Staring at a rock wall two inches from his borrowed eyes. He collapsed the vision back to normal. "Very funny."

'But true. Pretty much anything you do is more interesting than my life right now.'

"It's still wrong to use my senses without permission." Coincidentally, there happened to be a moment of silence from both Toothless and the teens.

'Then will you give me your permission?'

"Will you still use my senses if I don't?"

'I'd try not to. Though I don't have any problem with you using mine whenever you want.'

Hiccup considered this. "Fair enough. But stay quiet unless you have something important to say please. I don't need any more reasons for people to hate me, and apparent insanity would definitely be one."

'Thank you.'

Hiccup hadn't just given permission out of fairness. There was something almost desperate in Toothless's words and tone, and it had him worried. He resolved to think about that later. Now, to at least put out an appearance of normalcy for the next five minutes. Hiccup returned his attention to the world around him. And promptly realized that his fish was burning. He pulled it away from the fire and blew out the small fires while trying to pick up the thread of conversation. As he choked down the burnt fish and listened he realized that he hadn't missed much. Gobber was just telling a story he had heard a hundred times before, the one about how he lost his various limbs. Hiccup had heard it, but Toothless had not. When Gobber claimed that the dragon had thought his arm delicious, Hiccup heard a mental snort.

'I've heard humans taste about as good as rotten shark. No dragon would eat a human voluntarily. He must have done something to make the dragon mad.'

Hiccup found himself agreeing with that last part, given Gobber's tendency to shout colorful insults at the dragons as he fought.

Gobber finished his story, and now it was time for the comments from the nut gallery. However, before Ruff or Tuff could start, Snotlout started ranting. "I swear I'm so angry right now! I'll avenge your beautiful hand and your beautiful foot. I'll chop off the legs of every dragon I fight. With my face!"

Toothless laughed, a strange gurgling sound made even weirder when Hiccup couldn't see him do it. 'I'd love to see him try.'

Gobber replied to Snotlout's rant, ripping a leg off of his chicken for emphasis. "No, it's the wings and the tails you really want. If it can't fly, it can't get away. A downed dragon is a dead dragon."

Hiccup didn't listen to the rest of the conversation. He had been struck by a horrible realization. He might not have killed Toothless in the cove, and he wasn't going to let him starve, but it was his fault the dragon couldn't fly. If Toothless died because he couldn't leave the cove, it would be Hiccup's fault. He quietly slipped back down the stairs, thinking furiously as he left the gathering. How to fix the lack of a tail fin? His thoughts were interrupted.

'He's right.'

"What?" Hiccup mumbled.

'Even if we aren't killed by predators that we can't escape, dragons don't survive not being able to fly for very long. It drives us insane.'

Hiccup was horrified at the prospect of his actions not only dooming someone to death but a slow, painful death via insanity at that. "How long do you have?"

'No idea. Hopefully, being able to use your senses will help me hold out longer. At the very least, I won't be bored as I wait for death.' This was said despondently, and the hopelessness in his tone made Hiccup shudder. It was far too familiar.

As they had been talking, Hiccup's feet had carried him to the center of the village. He stood there, deep in thought. Something struck him, and he slowly smiled. He broke out in a dead run to the forge. After making sure Gobber wasn't there, Hiccup moved into his corner and pulled out his notebook. He flipped to the drawing of Toothless, the one he had corrected to depict the dragon's lack of a second tailfin. He paused, charcoal in hand. "Could you look at your tailfin for me please?"

'Why?'

Hiccup smiled. "I'm going to try to build you a replacement fin, and I need to see something to copy." He expanded the corner of his mind that he had labeled as Toothless' senses. The dragon had complied, and Hiccup could see the remaining tailfin clear as day through the Night Fury's superior night vision. He blindly flipped to another page in his sketchbook, one he was fairly certain he hadn't used yet and began drawing what he could see. As he drew, his plans for replicating the tail took shape in his mind. He finished drawing and collapsed the image in his head back to its corner. "Alright, got it."

'Will you be able to make it?'

Hiccup hesitated, hearing the almost painfully strong undertone of disbelief mixed with hope in the dragon's question. He wanted to reassure the dragon, but he didn't want to lie. "I hope so, but it will take a while. It might take me a couple of tries to get it right." Toothless was silent.

Hiccup began heating the coals, mentally adding up all the pieces he would need to make, and estimating how much time he had. He would finish before sunrise, but just barely. he resigned himself to being sleep deprived tomorrow. Speaking of which. "I'm going to be working here all night. It's going to be pretty boring to watch." The dragon responded with the mental equivalent of a snort. Hiccup placed one of the pieces of scrap metal he had appropriated for this on the coals.

Hiccup worked through the night, creating all of the various components he wanted for his plans. At some point, Toothless's sporadic comments had died off, and Hiccup was pretty sure the dragon had fallen asleep. That made one of them. Weird though, he would have guessed Night Furies to be nocturnal. The whole 'never seen, attacks under the cover of dark' business would have made more sense for a nocturnal dragon.

Finally, at about an hour before sunrise, he finished the last piece and assembled the device. He held the prosthetic tailfin up in front of the final schematic he had pinned to the wall. He opened and closed it. It was done. He was also dead tired, but that was beside the point. He had done it. Now, to go show Toothless in person.

Hiccup left the fin in the forge, hidden for the moment under mounds of paper. The sun was just starting to illuminate the village as he somewhat stealthily stole some fish from a storehouse, having avoided the notice of the few Vikings around at this hour. Well, it wasn't technically stealing, as the village food supply was for the village as a whole, so as a member of the village it was partly his, but taking it to give to a dragon? That probably counted as stealing. And treason, and insanity, but who cared about that? Hiccup spirited the basket of assorted fish back to the forge, where he would retrieve the tailfin, and make his way into the forest.

However, before he could leave the forge, he noticed Fishlegs. Slowly making the climb up to... the Chief's hut. His hut. With Stoick gone on the latest nest search - which reminded Hiccup, another thing to ask Toothless about at some point - Fishlegs had to be looking for him. Hiccup considered just letting him search, but having someone actively looking for him when he was trying to keep so much hidden probably wasn't the best idea. He dropped the basket of fish in his corner of the forge and went to intercept Fishlegs.

Hiccup quickly caught up to the portly teen, who wasn't the fastest stair climber ever. "Looking for me?"

Fishlegs jumped in surprise. "Hiccup! Don't sneak up on me like that. Uh, Gobber told me to tell you that training is happening today after lunch instead of in the morning."

Hiccup frowned. This was unusual. "Did he say why?" he asked, genuinely curious.

"Nope, he uh, just told me to tell you so you wouldn't be late."

Hiccup shrugged. At least Gobber had someone tell him ahead of time. "Alright, thanks for letting me know." Fishlegs left without saying anything else, hurrying down the stairs much faster than he had gone up. Hiccup was actually happy with the news. It meant he had plenty of time to spend with Toothless, instead of the few minutes he had thought he would have before having to head back for dragon training.

With that, he headed back to the forge, grabbed the fish basket and tailfin, and headed into the forest, towards the cove. On his way there, he remembered something. He hadn't told Toothless what he had decided to call him yet. This would be interesting. He was pretty sure that the 'Unholy Offspring Of Lightning And Death Itself' might object to being called Toothless. Hopefully, he would be distracted by the fish, and wouldn't complain too much.

A few minutes of careful maneuvering later, Hiccup had arrived at the entrance to the cove. Which was still partially blocked by the shield he had been stupid enough to get wedged in there. He resolved to bring a sledgehammer from the forge when he had a chance. Wiggling himself and his stuff under or over the shield was going to get old fast. He slid the prosthetic under the shield and pulled the basket of fish in after he slid in himself. He stood up and dusted himself off as he surveyed the cove.

Toothless had been asleep on the ground nearby. However, at the sounds of Hiccup sliding into the cove, his ears perked up. He was awake and alert by the time Hiccup got to his feet.

Hiccup looked in his direction, saw him, and smiled. "Hey, I brought breakfast. I hope you're hungry!" He put the basket down and tipped it over with his foot. The basket toppled and spilled its fishy contents with an extended slimy plop. "Okay, that's disgusting."

Toothless moved in towards the fish. Hiccup set down the prosthetic tailfin. Toothless paused. 'You finished it?'

Hiccup's smile broadened. "Yup, it's done."

Toothless broke into a wide imitation of Hiccup's smile, teeth retracted.

"You can try it out after you eat."

'Good idea.' Toothless dived into the pile of fish but froze before eating any. He yelped, and quickly backed away from the pile of fish, snarling. 'Why is THAT in there?!'

"What?" Hiccup was confused, all he saw was fish.

'THAT!" Toothless definitely had his teeth out now and was staring at a yellow and black striped eel that had been in the basket with the rest of the fish like it was the source of all that was evil in the world.

Hiccup stared at it for a moment. "You're scared of a dead eel?"

Toothless snarled. 'Scared? No. Cautious with something that poisonous? Yes. Now get rid of it!' He punctuated that last statement with a low growl.

Hiccup threw up his hands and went to pick it up. "You could just ask, you know." He moved to throw the eel into the underbrush but stopped as something occurred to him. "Are all dragons afraid of eels?"

Toothless had relaxed somewhat when Hiccup picked up the eel, but he was still far from happy with the situation. 'All that I know of. Now get rid of it. Please?'

Hiccup walked back to the shield blocking the exit/entrance of the cove and threw the eel over. "There."

Toothless snorted. 'That isn't very far from here.'

Hiccup returned to the petulant dragon and the pile of fish. "I know, but I think I can use it later. You'll see." Toothless didn't bother to reply to that, he was too busy depleting the pile of fish at an astonishing rate. He must have been starving. Hiccup saw that the pile would be gone soon, and decided now was as good a time as any. "Oh, I came up with a name for you. I'm gonna call you... Toothless." He held in his laughter as the dragon kept eating for a moment, before processing what he had just said.

Toothless opened his mouth, dropping a fish, and slowly turned his head to face Hiccup, eyes wide and mouth still hanging open, teeth currently sheathed in order to better swallow the fish. His ear flaps were flat against his head, and his pupils were as wide as they could go. 'Toothless. Out of all the majestic and noble names in the world, you picked... Toothless.' The dragon closed his mouth as his pupils narrowed, holding eye contact with Hiccup. 'Is this a joke?'

Hiccup gulped. "Uh... no. I really do think Toothless fits you. You know, because you can retract your teeth... the name just stuck in my head!"

Toothless abruptly snorted, shook his head, and returned to his fish. 'Fine.'

Hiccup was quite surprised that the dragon had so easily accepted the name. He had at least expected a few alternative (and arrogant) suggestions from the Night Fury. "Really?"

'Really. Besides, it still beats 'Hiccup' or 'Gobber'. Is it some sort of twisted tradition to give your offspring the weirdest names possible? It can't be a coincidence.' Toothless sounded sarcastic.

Hiccup chuckled. "Yes, actually. Vikings believe that hideous names frighten off gnomes and trolls."

Toothless had finished his fish and was now completely engrossed in what Hiccup was saying. 'What do these gnomes and trolls look like? I've never heard of them.' Hiccup thought about that for a second. "I don't really know, I've never seen one."

Toothless snorted, something Hiccup was coming to recognize as having the exact same meaning as its human equivalent.

Hiccup wanted to stop talking about the less intelligent traditions of his culture, so he picked up the prosthetic tailfin. "You wanna try this today or not?"

Toothless took notice of what he was holding, and jumped over to Hiccup's side, turning so that his tail was facing him.

"I take that as a yes" Hiccup mumbled as he moved around the tail, trying to ascertain the best angle to attach the fin from. He settled on sitting on the tail, facing the end of the natural fin. He proceeded to attach the iron and canvas prosthetic, oblivious to how Toothless's body language was changing as the dragon felt the return of weight to the other side of his tail, indicating a return in balance, and therefore... Hiccup heard a rustling as he finished the last buckle, but he didn't recognize the sound as that of a pair of wings spreading in preparation for takeoff. "Huh. Okay, that's not too bad, it works..." he mumbled to himself as he spread out the limp prosthetic tailfin to match the other side.

That was when Toothless took off.

Hiccup by instinct wrapped his legs around the now airborne tail and held onto the prosthetic fin's base for dear life as the ground rapidly receded. He wanted to scream, but he didn't have time.

Toothless pumped his wings frantically, entirely focused on flying out of the cove. Just like all his prior attempts, Toothless began to lose control, and plummet towards the rock wall of the cove. Hiccup had a moment to realize that the artificial tailfin wasn't extended, instead forced closed by the wind. As Toothless plummeted, Hiccup reached out and grabbed the fin, yanking it into the open position.

Toothless was just able to pull out of the dive and roared in joy as he flew up, out of the natural prison he had been stuck in, to the boundless skies above.

Hiccup was still hanging on to Toothless's tail, but he was paralyzed in a state somewhere between pure fright and pure exhilaration. He decided to go with exhilaration. "It's working!" he screamed as Toothless shot up, out into the sky. Caught up in the moment, he tilted the artificial fin, causing the straight path Toothless had been on to twist into a wide half-circle in shape.

In moments, Toothless found himself gliding above the pond that took up half the cove. That was when he noticed his passenger. 'What are you DOING?!'

Hiccup tried to explain, but was cut off before he could say anything by the jackknife in midair that the dragon had just executed, throwing him off with such force that he skipped slightly upon impact with the water. He had wanted to tell Toothless that he had been keeping his fin open, but now he was more occupied with surfacing.

As a result of throwing off the one thing keeping his artificial fin open, Toothless almost immediately followed Hiccup into the water.

After they both had surfaced, Hiccup couldn't resist letting out one final shout of joy. "Yeah!" He lunged up out of the water as he did, and the resulting downward force submerged him again. After recovering from his second dunking, he struck out for the edge of the pond. Toothless had already gotten out and was currently doing something that struck Hiccup as strange.

The Fury was running aimlessly across a sandy patch of the cove. He didn't seem to be chasing or fleeing from anything, but he was running quite fast. As Hiccup watched, Toothless let out a small plasma blast, which exploded a few yards in front of him. He dived forward, and his momentum carried him through the fireball, which didn't seem to hurt at all. As he slowed down and stopped, Hiccup understood. The fire was to dry him off, and the running a means of ensuring the heat reached his entire body before it dissipated. Hiccup considered his own soaked condition and envied the dragon.

Having dried, Toothless returned his attention to the dripping human standing a short distance away. He slinked towards him, not exactly menacing, but not friendly either. 'Why were you on my tail?'

Hiccup stared. "It wasn't exactly my choice. I would have wanted a better seat than that. You took off while I was putting the tail on, and I held on by reflex."

Toothless dropped the unfriendly crouch and assumed a slightly embarrassed expression. 'Oh.' The Fury clearly wanted to change the subject. 'So, why didn't the tail work? It felt like it was for a minute there.'

Hiccup frowned. He turned his attention to the problem at hand. "It folds up in the wind. I held it open while I was on your tail, and it worked then."

Toothless realized exactly what he had done when he threw Hiccup off. If it was possible for dragons to have turned red in embarrassment, he would have. 'Whoops...'

Hiccup crossed his arms. "Yeah, whoops. Did you even know we were above water? or were you just getting rid of me once you thought I had given you your flight back?" His volume rose as he voiced a suspicion that had been lurking in the back of his mind the entire time he had been talking with the dragon. Was Toothless acting so nice and normal in order to get Hiccup to restore his flight? Was he just being used?

The Fury literally recoiled in shock, and hunched inwards, appearing smaller than normal as a result. 'No! I wasn't trying to get rid of you. I just wanted to be able to fly without ninety pounds hanging off of my tail. I knew we were above the pond. I didn't want to hurt you!' The genuine hurt in the dragon's voice was more convincing than his words.

But Hiccup still had doubts, questions he needed answered. "So why are you being so nice to me? You have every reason to hate me, and yet you act like we're friends. The only reason I can think of is that you want something from me."

The dragon stared at him, the muscles above his eyes lowering like eyebrows in confusion. 'Before we could talk to each other, we were able to trust each other. I considered you a friend then, and that was before you said anything about fixing my tail. I would like my flight back, but even if that was impossible I would be treating you the same way. You are trying to fix your mistakes, and it would be obvious to anyone that you regret shooting me down. Do Vikings not know how to forgive?'

Hiccup was thrown for a loop. He had heard throughout his life that revenge was the Viking way. Forgiveness was only mentioned in their stories as something the villain pled for, along with mercy. It was never granted. Hiccup thought for a moment, before answering slowly. 'I don't think most Vikings forgive, or ask to be forgiven. It isn't really the Viking way. Revenge is more our speed."

Toothless stared directly into his eyes. 'According to you, the Viking way also involved killing me when you found me in the woods and cutting my heart out. Not necessarily in that order, from what I could tell.'

Hiccup had no answer to that, so he said nothing.

'I have a question for you. I acted friendly from the start because I understood your regret. Why did you?'

Hiccup wasn't sure what Toothless was referring to. "What?"

Toothless huffed. 'From the start, you wanted to interact with me. When we could communicate, you accepted talking to me pretty quickly and didn't even get mad about the fact that I had messed with your head. You didn't even really care when I was using your senses, you just wanted me to ask first. You talked to me like I was your friend pretty much from the start. Why?'

Hiccup answered without forethought, saying what came into mind. "I don't really know. At first, it was shock, and after that... you talked to me like an equal, you didn't make fun of me or ignore me..." He paused for a moment. "And you seem so much like me. Intelligent, sarcastic... lonely."

Toothless looked down. 'I was.'

As they had been talking, Hiccup had been growing colder. It wasn't exactly summer at the moment, and the cove's enclosed interior didn't block all of the sharp winds from above. He was still soaked from his dunking in the pond.

Toothless noticed that Hiccup was shivering. Without saying anything, he got up and dragged over a large dead branch, almost a log in size. Ignoring standard fire building procedures, (not that he would know them anyway, being a living flamethrower) Toothless immediately set the log ablaze, resulting in what would be a hot but relatively short-lived fire.

Hiccup moved closer to the fire, relishing the warmth.

Toothless wasn't satisfied. He moved behind Hiccup, and settled down around him, creating both a wind-break and a warm wall at his back.

Hiccup turned to look him in the eyes.

Toothless returned the stare. 'This is what friends do. They look out for each other. And we are friends. Regardless of what you did in the past, or might be able to do in the future. Right?'

Hiccup was deeply touched by both his words and actions. There was a lot he wanted to say, but he settled for something simple. "Right." They remained like that until the log burned out.

Eventually, Hiccup remembered that training had been moved to that afternoon, and he reluctantly decided that he needed to get moving. He didn't want to. For the first time he could remember, he really didn't feel any need to go back to the village. Before, no matter how badly he had screwed up, no matter how bad things got, he knew he would have to go back to the village. It was the only place he could go, and it was preferable to its only alternative, the wilderness of the forest. Now, he had the Toothless, and by extension this cove. He had a place other than the village. And he realized that the village wasn't all that great. But he had to go back. Nothing had really changed. At least physically.

He forced himself to get moving, startling Toothless, who felt his weight shift against his side. "I've gotta go."

Toothless resettled. 'We still have a lot to talk about.'

Hiccup laughed softly. "Probably. But can we save the emotional conflicts for tomorrow? I've had just about enough of that for today."

'Sure. That kind of thing is best done face-to-face anyway. Hard to have a real argument when I can't see your face.'

Hiccup laughed, for real now. "Well, I could always just stare at my reflection while we argued. I've seen Snotlout talk to himself like that."

Toothless let out the gurgling laugh unique to him. 'Who is Snotlout? Have I seen him yet?'

"He was the one who wants to rip off dragon legs with his face."

Toothless snorted. 'He seems bright.'

The two laughed as Hiccup made his way out of the cove. He made sure to pick up the eel before he left. It might come in handy. He felt a slight change in the corner of his mind. Hiccup wasn't sure, but he thought that might be a sign that Toothless was using his senses. The pocket seemed to be... well, vibrating was the closest comparison he could think of. It was almost imperceptible, but he thought he could tell the difference now. It was nice to be able to tell when his friend was with him.


	4. Chapter 4

It was a little past noon. Fishlegs had said that Gobber had moved training to the afternoon, but he hadn't said exactly when. Hiccup wasn't too worried. He would get there early and just wait. It wasn't like he had anything else to do in the village. With most of the warriors gone on the latest hunt for the nest, and the backlog of mangled weapons from the last raid worked through, the forge was almost inactive recently. There were small things, like mending various metal implements of the villagers, but nothing major to occupy the forge for more than an hour. That was one of the reasons Gobber was doing dragon training now. He knew he would have the spare time. Hiccup supposed that that meant training would be over, or nearly over by the time the nest hunt returned. If it did return at all. Nest hunts all told usually lasted about a month, so that was how long he would have to deal with dragon training.

Hiccup had reached the arena. He walked in through the main doors and into the arena proper. There was no one there. No Gobber, no teens, no angry dragon, no nothing. The only change in the arena was a few blast marks in various places and a rapidly drying puddle near the center of the ring. Turning, Hiccup did notice a trough of water and six buckets over in the corner by the entrance. He was unsure what was going on. "Hello? Anyone here?" He turned in a full circle.

"Ah, look who decided to finally show up. What did I tell you about getting here on time, Hiccup?" It was Gobber's voice, and by following his ears, Hiccup found him. He was in the spectator seating on the outside of the arena. The rest of the teens were also there, and through some ill-timed miracle they had apparently been silent this entire time, something Hiccup would have thought impossible for the twins. Gobber's voice wasn't so much angry as disappointed, though there was a fair bit of anger involved. "Hiccup, I told you what would happen if you showed up this late again."

Toothless spoke up from his corner of Hiccup's mind. 'I thought you said training was in the afternoon.'

Hiccup spoke aloud, answering both Gobber and Toothless. "I was told-"

"Nope," Gobber interrupted, "Don't want to hear it. I don't care why you weren't here. You missed dealing with the Zippleback, and the entire focus of today was on teamwork. You will be helping me clean out the dragon pens tomorrow."

Hiccup seethed, as he figured out what had happened. He explained to Toothless, unaware that it looked like he was muttering to himself. "Fishlegs must have told me the wrong time intentionally, to make me late. I don't think Fishlegs would do something like that on his own, so that means it was probably Snotlout's plan."

Gobber interrupted his quiet rant. "Now, since you missed today's lesson, you have to make it up. The problem is, the lesson was on teamwork, and I don't think any of your cla-"

"I'll do it." That was Astrid, interrupting Gobber as she swung down through the bars of the arena cage dome, to land in the arena with Hiccup.

"Oh, well then. By all means, Astrid." Gobber looked surprised, but that was nothing compared to how Hiccup felt. After all these years of ignoring him, Astrid was volunteering to help him? Maybe this wasn't such a bad thing after all.

Astrid interrupted his train of thought by shoving a bucket of water into his hands. He managed not to drop it and saw that Astrid was also carrying a full bucket of water of her own.

Gobber moved over to where the levers connected to the various cages were located.

Hiccup decided that now was a good time to ask questions. "So, what exactly are we doing?"

Gobber sighed. "I already went through all of this once, Astrid can explain." With that, he pulled one of the levers. The Zippleback cage was silent for a solid half a minute. Gobber chuckled. "He's probably setting up to make another grand entrance. Betcha he wasn't expecting an encore performance." With that, the cage doors were flung outward, by something concealed within a rapidly expanding cloud of green fog.

Astrid and Hiccup stood still as the fog enveloped the arena, muffling sound, and in effect cutting them off from the rest of the world.

Hiccup turned to Astrid, slightly panicked. "So, what do we do?"

Astrid glared at him, her demeanor a far cry from moments ago when she had been all business. "We don't do anything. I'm only down here to get another shot at this dragon, I couldn't care less about helping you. Don't get in my way."

Hiccup was crestfallen. He had hoped that Astrid had volunteered to help him. So much for that. She moved off into the fog, leaving Hiccup with a bucket of water, no weapon, and no idea what the purpose of all this was. Oh, and a Night Fury spectating from inside his head. "So, got any suggestions here Toothless?"

'Yes, actually. First off, forget about that girl. Astrid, was it? Second, jump.'

Hiccup heard the last part of this advice just in time, for as he jumped, a long green duo of tails swept under his feet from behind him. Had he been standing, he would have been knocked over. "Thanks."

Hiccup began turning in a slow circle, trying in vain to spot the dragon in the fog. "I think I know what the bucket is for. Toothless, which head of a Zippleback lets out the sparks?"

Toothless immediately caught on. 'The dragon's left head usually. But not always, sometimes it can be the right head, depending on the dragon.'

Despite the situation, Hiccup was intrigued. He wanted to ask why, and how it was determined which head would do what, but he was abruptly given something else to worry about.

There was a screech from the fog and a battle yell that sounded like Astrid. Hiccup's hopes that she had doused the correct head were short lived. The dragon abruptly came into view, as it flapped its wings, dispersing the majority of the fog, in an attempt to dislodge... Astrid, who was clinging to the left head. Her bucket was shattered as if it had been stepped on, and neither head was wet. Hiccup could see that the dragon was becoming frustrated, as it could not dislodge Astrid from its left neck, and it could not light gas to blow her off, because she was holding the left head closed. The right head had one eye shut, probably the result of it trying to dislodge Astrid. She could pack a mean punch. Still, without any weapon, she was a sitting duck.

Hiccup knew what he had to do. Forget the water, he had to save Astrid. Even if she wouldn't do the same for him. The question was, how to do it without her seeing the eel he had hidden in his vest. He had an idea, but Astrid wasn't going to be happy.

'You should get out of there. Let her handle the dragon herself, seeing as she didn't want your help.'

Hiccup ignored Toothless's advice. He ran towards the dragon, specifically the left head, with Astrid on it. He waited until the extremely distracted Zippleback lowered that head enough, and splashed it with water. The thing was, he wasn't aiming solely for the head. He was also aiming for Astrid. Specifically, her eyes. In that, he succeeded. She was spluttering and for the moment had her eyes closed in shock. A moment was all he needed. He subtly opened his vest, showing the right head of the Zippleback the eel. Just knowing the eel was there scared the dragon, and it reared in fear. As a result, the already disoriented Astrid lost her grip and fell to the rock floor of the arena.

Toothless now understood Hiccup's plan, and he only had one thing to add. 'Make it look convincing, the fog is lifting.'

Hiccup did his best to look intimidating, standing almost on his toes and shouting dramatically as he advanced on the dragon, who might have laughed at him if it wasn't for the eel it knew he was carrying. "Back, back, back! Now don't make me tell you again!" The Zippleback was almost inside its cage, which had been left open. As Hiccup entered the cage, he removed the eel from his vest to show it one last time. "Now think about what you've done." With that, he rehid the eel and backed out of the cage. Someone pulled the lever to close the cage. It was over.

Hiccup turned to look at Astrid. She was absolutely furious, almost shaking with anger. Hiccup had no doubts that if she had had her ax with her, he would be dead. That being said, it did seem to be a bit of an overreaction. He had kind of knocked her off the dragon by getting water in her eyes, but for all she knew that was an accident. And he had saved her, and stopped the Zippleback through what he was sure looked like sheer force of will! He thought about that for a second. Maybe that was the problem. All the other teens had seen would have been what happened after the fog lifted. Mainly, Astrid stunned on the floor as he literally scared a Zippleback away from her with his bare hands. Now that he thought about it, that was probably the problem. He had completely shown her up. Whoops.

He looked up, into the arena stands. Gobber and the other teens were in various stages of shock, mouths hanging open, expressions disbelieving. Except for Snotlout. He was a mixture of shock and anger.

'That looks hilarious.' Hiccup had to agree, but he knew better than to laugh right now. 'Mind telling me who the ones I don't know are, so I can mock them by name later?'

Hiccup couldn't help but laugh at that, though he tried to disguise it as a cough. "The two identical ones are Ruffnut and Tuffnut, and the big one next to Gobber is Fishlegs."

Toothless's tone lost all humor. 'He would be the one who lied to you, correct?'

Hiccup's mood fell at the reminder. "Yeah, but he was probably made to by Snotlout." Still, it was a little sad. He had thought he could trust Fishlegs to at least not directly aid Snotlout, even if he normally didn't do Hiccup any favors either. Might as well cross Fishlegs off the list of non-hostile acquaintances. Who was left? He was pretty sure Astrid wasn't on that list anymore either. Hopefully, her anger was temporary, but Astrid was almost the perfect Viking, and Vikings were great at carrying grudges.

Gobber abruptly closed his mouth. "Er... Alright then. Next training is in a few days. Ye'll need yer weapons. So..." He paused, obviously trying to regain his train of thought. "Oh. Hiccup, meet me here tomorrow morning to clean the dragon cages. An hour after sunrise. Got it?" His tone was menacing in the last two words, promising much worse as punishment if Hiccup dared to not show up on time.

Hiccup sighed. "Got it."

Gobber left the arena.

Hiccup decided there was no point in just standing there, and was about to head out when he was stopped by Astrid, none too gently.

She almost snarled at him. "I said, stay out of my way. I don't care what you think you're doing, I'm going to win this thing. Interfere again and you'll regret it." This scared Hiccup far more than it would have coming from, say, Snotlout. Coming from Astrid, that was a deadly serious threat. He must have really made her mad. She had left immediately after saying that, but Hiccup stood there stunned for a few seconds.

'You might want to get going.' Hiccup was about to ask Toothless what he meant, but Toothless interrupted him. 'Take two steps forward... NOW!'

Hiccup was reminded of the last time Toothless had told him to do something immediately and put his trust in the dragon once again. He took two large and abrupt steps forward when Toothless said now and was rewarded with the sound of something large and heavy hitting the ground behind him. He turned around to see that Snotlout was the large and heavy object in question. From what Hiccup could tell, Snotlout had been intending to shove him to the ground from behind, but when he moved forward at the last second, Snotlout overbalanced, with nothing to check his forward momentum. There was a moment of silence as Snotlout got to his feet.

Then the twins burst into laughter. "Man, that was impressive." Tuffnut managed to get out, in between bouts of laughter.

"Yeah, you were all ready to knock him over, and he totally messed it up without even trying!" Ruffnut was trying to regain her breath, she had laughed so hard.

Snotlout's face was turning a violent shade of red. At least the twins were equal opportunity mockers. Hiccup had to give them that. "You should watch yourself" Snotlout blustered, slowly regaining his composure. "No one shows up my future girlfriend and gets away with it."

Hiccup kept a straight face. "You do realize she despises you, right?"

Toothless had to add to that. 'She despises you too, from what I could tell. Hasn't stopped you from hoping.'

Hiccup made a mental note to figure out how Toothless could tell he liked Astrid. He hadn't said anything, had he? Regardless, there were more pressing matters at hand.

"No she doesn't, she's just playing hard to get! Once I win dragon training and kill that Nightmare in the manliest way possible, she'll come around" Snotlout paused for a moment to make muscles with his arms. "Besides, look at the alternatives. Fishface the geek, Tuffnut the insane-"

"And proud of it!"

"-and you. Hiccup the Useless, Berk's smallest occupant and biggest waste of space. I'm her only real choice."

"She could always go to another island." That was Fishlegs, looking not at all insulted by what Snotlout had said.

"No way. Her whole goal in life is to kill dragons, and Berk is the best place to do that" Ruffnut interjected. "She won't leave." Ruffnut had a very good point. Berk was the leading edge in the war on dragons. It was raided ten times as often as any of the other islands. The Vikings of Berk had always figured it was because Berk was the most dangerous. The more intelligent (on Berk, that meant pretty much just Hiccup and Fishlegs) were of the opinion that Berk was the closest to the nest, and therefore the most convenient target.

The argument died after that. There was nothing more to be said.

Snotlout turned as if to leave.

'Duck.'

This time Hiccup wasn't fast enough, and Snotlout's fist met his nose. The pain in his face was excruciating, but he was pretty sure nothing was broken. It still hurt like crazy.

Snotlout left for real, but not before giving out one final threat. "Don't try to beat me or Astrid in training. I don't care how you did whatever that was with the Zippleback, I can still pound you into the ground any time, any place."

Toothless mentally growled. 'How about the cove, jerk. I'd love to see you try anything where I can reach you.'

Snotlout, of course, couldn't hear what was a very real death threat coming from the most feared dragon in the archipelago, but it made Hiccup feel a little better. With that, the other teens left the arena. Snotlout strutting, the twins arguing, and Fishlegs trailing behind, head down. None of them looked back.

Hiccup stood, having fallen from being punched in the nose.

'That could have gone better.'

"It could have gone way worse. I'm lucky he decided it would only take one punch to get his point across."

'Has he done that before?'

Hiccup sighed. "Yup. The Viking way again. Actions speak louder than words, and whoever is louder wins the argument." Toothless declined to comment on that. Hiccup decided to move on to the next topic of conversation. "I've been meaning to ask, how do you seem to know what's going to happen before it does? I count at least three times you've warned me about stuff right before it happens."

'A combination of things. For the Zippleback, that tail swipe is a pretty standard move. As for the other times, I could hear him coming, or smell the change in mood and see it in his body language. Only right before it happens though. You'd need Night Fury reflexes to act on some of these things.'

Hiccup saw a flaw in what Toothless had said. "But for the hearing and smelling, I don't hear and smell this stuff, and you're using my senses. How come you can?" Hiccup was fairly certain that back in the cove, Toothless shrugged as he answered.

'Not sure. Maybe you do hear and smell this stuff, but you don't realize or recognize it. I'm not sure why I can understand the humans around you, either. Even if I am listening with your ears, that doesn't mean I can magically understand your language.'

Hiccup had no answer for that. Although it did raise yet another question. "Toothless, dragons can talk to each other, right? Was the Zippleback talking in the ring?"

'Yes. He was cursing you and Astrid out the entire time. From both heads. Not exactly something I would translate for you. If a dragon says something important to you, I'll tell you.'

Hiccup snorted. That was a mental image he would cherish. A Zippleback screaming curses with one head as Astrid held the other's mouth shut. Neither of them wanted to continue puzzling over the intricacies of their mental link further at the moment. Hiccup left the ring with no concrete destination in mind. Both he and Toothless were unaware that Gobber had returned to the ring, having forgotten his lunch bucket.

Gobber had returned in time to see (though not hear) the end of the argument between the teens, and to watch in confusion and growing concern as Hiccup stood alone in the ring for a good three minutes talking to himself, apparently going through an entire one-sided conversation given his shifting facial expressions. He wasn't able to write it off as one of Hiccup's personality quirks. This was too strange for that. Something was wrong. He decided to bring it up while they were cleaning out the stalls tomorrow.


	5. Chapter 5

Hiccup stood in the forge. Gobber had given him the day off because there was nothing to be done at the moment, and had promptly screwed on his mug arm and made his way to the Great Hall. He had been looking at Hiccup strangely, though he acted like nothing was wrong when Hiccup stared back at him. Hiccup was alone in the forge, and given Gobber's tolerance for alcohol, would likely be alone for the rest of the day.

Well, physically alone. 'Why are you here?'

Hiccup decided he might as well explain what he was thinking. He began talking as he grabbed a blank piece of paper and started drawing. "Your replacement tailfin needs to be able to open and close when you want it to."

Toothless interrupted. 'Not just open and close, it needs to be able to fold, tilt, half close... it might be easier to show you.'

Hiccup tuned in to Toothless's senses. That process was becoming quicker and easier as he practiced. "I'm watching."

Toothless proceeded to stare at his tail as he took it through the full range of motions it used for flight.

Hiccup quickly saw that building something that Toothless could use on his own was out of his reach right now. Maybe someday, when he understood the process more... For now, he needed a way to get Toothless into the air without being in control of both fins. "I don't know how to make this work" he admitted, closing out the alternative perception. He looked down at the blank paper.

Toothless was quiet. 'But you got it to work before, for a few seconds. What makes this different?'

"That was me operating the other fin, I can't think of a way for you to operate it yourself."

'Then don't.'

"What?" Hiccup asked, unsure if he was grasping what Toothless had said correctly.

'If you can't figure out a way to get me up on my own, then figure out a way to come up with me, and work the artificial fin yourself.'

Hiccup was torn, one part of him felt horrible that Toothless had to choose between always flying with a passenger, not completely in control, or not flying at all. The other part of him was ecstatic at the prospect of returning to the air. He ignored both parts in favor of the practical aspects of the problem. "I thought you weren't able to fly with a ninety-pound weight."

Toothless snorted. 'On my tail, no. Ride on my back, and I could probably carry three of you.'

Hiccup smiled. "So you want me to build you a saddle."

'What's a saddle?'

Hiccup was drawing as he answered, the saddle's design taking shape under his hands, along with a sketch of Toothless wearing it as he envisioned it to look like. "It's a piece of shaped leather that goes on your back, that I can sit on and hold on to in order to stay on your back while you fly. It lets me hold on without hindering your movement." Hiccup had finished his saddle design. It was a slim, flat piece of leather, unlike the raised saddle design used for horses. He figured a dragon so clearly built for speed would need an aerodynamic saddle.

'It doesn't look so bad. I'll have to see it made though. I don't want it to make me look weird.'

Hiccup could have predicted that response. Toothless was desperate to get into the air, but his pride would only bend so far in doing so. "I promise to not make you look silly."

'You better not.'

The process of making the saddle took the rest of the day, and this time Toothless was much more interested in how Hiccup was doing it. Answering the Fury's constant questions about the processes of tanning leather and building saddles made the day fly by, and Hiccup was genuinely surprised to find that night had fallen as he stepped out behind the forge, finished saddle in hand, along with a spool of rope. He realized that he hadn't eaten since... had he eaten this morning? He couldn't remember. It didn't really matter. He returned to his corner of the forge, and once again hid his new equipment behind his cluttered desk. It wouldn't have been big enough to cover up the whole saddle, but the stacks of paper and spare parts made up the difference.

"I'll have to bring these to you tomorrow. I need food and sleep right now." That was an understatement. In addition to having not eaten in quite a while, Hiccup hadn't slept in thirty-six hours and counting. He was near collapsing, having held out as long as he did through excitement and adrenaline.

'Go on then. I'm not going anywhere.' Hiccup wasn't sure if Toothless was referring to his current imprisonment in the cove or his occupation of Hiccup's senses. He was too tired to really care.

He trudged up the stairs to the Great Hall and grabbed some bread for a late dinner. He sat down at an unoccupied table, and ate alone, as per usual. For Toothless's benefit, as he could tell the Night Fury was still with him, Hiccup spent the meal looking around the Great Hall. He could see the massive, ornate doors, the various painted shields, the roaring fire. He could also see the tables and clusters of Vikings in various stages of inebriation. The Hall was partially empty, probably a result of the nest hunt. Hiccup concentrated on his food.

'Hiccup?'

"Yeah Toothless?"

'I've been wondering something. What decides who sits with who here?'

Hiccup looked around again and saw the random clusters of Vikings. "I'm not really sure what you mean. There isn't any rule, people usually sit with their friends and family."

Toothless was quiet for a moment. 'Do you have friends?'

That question struck a little too close to home. Until recently, Hiccup might have considered Fishlegs something of a casual friend, but he had been growing distant, and this latest thing with dragon training proved that. He didn't have any friends among the younger kids, as they pretty much all hero-worshipped Snotlout. The worst of these was a boy named Gustav, who was literally the leader of the Snotlout fan club. He was basically Snotlout-in-training, down to the brazen stupidity and dumb jokes. As for the older Vikings, the young adults, they had had to deal with the results of Hiccup's mistakes far too often for him to consider them friends. So no, he really had no friends in the village. He had known this, but it still hurt to think about. "No, not really."

Toothless could tell he had hit on a sensitive subject, so he decided to find something to make Hiccup feel better. 'What about family?' Toothless couldn't have known, but that was just as bad.

"My dad, but he's not here, and wouldn't be sitting with me if he was. He always has something Chiefing-related to be doing. Other than him, technically Snotlout is my cousin. His dad, my Uncle Spitelout, is just as bad. And, that would be it."

Toothless felt horrible now. He had tried to cheer Hiccup up and accidentally done the opposite. 'But you have me.'

Hiccup slowly smiled. "That I do." If nothing else, he now had at least one real friend. Even if that friend was a dragon, he still counted. He finished the rest of his meal in relative contentment, and headed back to his house, to collapse into bed. He didn't even remember laying down.

The next morning, Hiccup woke at daybreak, as per usual. What wasn't usual was where he woke. He was face down on the floor, a good few feet away from the wooden construct that qualified as a bed by Viking standards. That is, wooden and above the floor. He didn't waste time pondering his situation, it had happened before. Apparently, he was a heavy sleeper when making up for a night of missed sleep. That didn't happen often, but he distinctly remembered the time he had woken up with his arms hanging off of the edge of the loft that was his room. That had been an unpleasant reminder to not miss a night of sleep.

He hurriedly got up and ready for another day. He was halfway across the village when the pocket in his mind changed slightly, now subtly vibrating to signal that Toothless was tuning in. Hiccup decided to speak first this time. "Good morning Toothless."

Toothless didn't reply right away. 'Wait, how did you know I was using your senses. Was that a lucky guess?'

The disbelief in the dragon's voice amused Hiccup. "Nope, I can just tell now."

Toothless was astounded. 'I didn't think that would be possible.'

"You didn't know any of this was possible. One more impossible thing shouldn't come as much of a surprise."

'It shouldn't, but it still does. Where are you going?'

Hiccup grimaced, good mood somewhat dampened as he remembered. "The arena."

Toothless caught on quickly. 'Right, to clean the pens with Gobber.' He growled. 'For something that wasn't your fault.'

Hiccup scowled. It was nice to have someone else acknowledge that, even if it was someone who couldn't exactly convince Gobber of the truth of it. The more he thought about it, the more it got under his skin. He had been lied to, and as a result missed training, and he was the one being punished for it. But he knew Gobber. The blacksmith wouldn't care why Hiccup had been late, and he definitely wouldn't rescind the punishment. Especially because the punishment in question meant that Gobber had help for one of his least enjoyable responsibilities as the teacher of dragon training. Hiccup would just have to deal with it.

Toothless wasn't so complacent. As Hiccup made his way across the bridge connecting the rock outcropping that held the arena to the rest of Berk, Toothless lapsed into a discontent silence. In the brief time Hiccup had known him, he was beginning to realize that the dragon held great stock in fairness and justice. His reaction to Hiccup trying to make up for his mistakes, for example. He figured the unfair punishment wouldn't sit well with the dragon. But there was no way out of it.

He met Gobber in the arena, and the old blacksmith explained how the pens were cleaned. In true Viking fashion, the process was straightforward and simple. Each pen had a back door entrance. One pen would be opened, and then closed again once the dragon in question had entered the arena. The cleaner would then enter the now vacant pen and do their work. The fun part came after. In true Viking fashion, instead of trying to lure the dragon back into the pen with food, if the dragon didn't tamely walk back into the pen when the door opened, the cleaner would grab a weapon and force it back in. For today, Gobber would be doing the forcing, and Hiccup the actual cleaning.

The actual cleaning went fine, if disgusting and boring. Hiccup never even saw the dragons he was cleaning up after, although he did hear the ones that didn't want to return to their pens. Gobber was very good at what he had called 'Dragon herding'. Hiccup noted with amusement that he did indeed insult the dragons as he herded them. Toothless might have shared in his amusement, but he was too busy seething. He had seen the interior of a pen before when he had watched Hiccup force a Zippleback into one the other day, but now he was given a much closer look. The pens were dark, claustrophobic, uninsulated, permanently stained with blood and feces, and according to Toothless reeked of old pain and fear, as well as despair. Hiccup couldn't smell that (or he didn't recognize it, that part of the link still didn't make sense to him) but he agreed with the other criticisms of the pens. Whether or not these dragons deserved to be prisoners, any person should treat their prisoners better than this. Come on, even the worst jail cells, meant for Outcasts and the insane were better than this. Of course, those were still for humans, however broken or despicable. These pens were for dragons, what Vikings considered little better than demons, a step below animals. There was no need to do anything other than keep them alive to be fought. After finding out that most dragons were as intelligent as people, Hiccup had begun to consider them as such. This would have sickened him even before that change in perception.

But, again, he knew there was nothing he could do to change it. It didn't make him feel any better. So, when Gobber wanted to talk to Hiccup after they had finished with the last cage, the one housing the Nightmare, Hiccup wasn't at all in a good mood, and neither was Toothless.

Gobber and Hiccup were sitting in the spectator seats, outside the arena. Gobber was looking into the arena, staring at the stone floor and massive gates.

Hiccup, on the other hand, was looking past the arena, out at the sea, and the endless sky above. This was for his benefit as much as for Toothless. On a whim, he accessed Toothless's perception. The dragon was laying in a corner of the cove, hidden from any prying eyes, and had a good view of the whole cove. The view was beautiful, but in a different way to the sea and sky Hiccup could see. One view represented confinement, no matter how beautiful the cage, and the other freedom, regardless of the state of the world the freedom would be found in. One was somewhat safe and boring, the other very unsafe and exciting. Hiccup found himself intensely wishing to be up in that boundless sky, and no doubt Toothless felt the same. Needless to say, they were both focusing on Hiccup's perspective.

Gobber was the first to break the silence. He turned to look at Hiccup. His question was as blunt as the bottom of his prosthetic foot. "Are you alright lad?"

Hiccup was thrown for a loop, but he knew he had to be careful. There was so much going on recently, and he couldn't be sure what Gobber was referring to. He decided to find out. "What do you mean?"

Gobber looked uncomfortable. "Well... ye got intae a scuffle with Snotlout..." Hiccup snorted. "Not sure you could call a punch to the face a scuffle. The word scuffle would imply I at least tried to hit him back."

Gobber sighed. "And ye've been late to training and missed a class entirely. Why were you so late?"

A pungent mix of frustration and fear was bubbling inside Hiccup. He couldn't let Gobber wonder about his activities, and he needed a way to get him off of his back.

As he sat there, Toothless chimed in. 'Tell him why you thought it had been rescheduled. He should know, even if it doesn't matter to him, and it's the perfect excuse because it's true.'

It was a good solution. He didn't have to fake his frustration as he spoke, it was definitely real. "I was late because I had been told you moved the training to the afternoon."

Gobber looked confused. "Who told ye that? I never hold training in the afternoon, unless the Chief requests it!"

Hiccup scoffed. "Does it matter? You don't need me to tell you who it was, there's only one person who intentionally has it out for me." Hiccup sighed, some of his anger fading. "Well, there used to be only one. Astrid won't forget what happened against the Zippleback."

Gobber looked taken aback, both by Hiccup's anger and his lack of sarcasm. Those were both things he had never seen in Hiccup before. He was used to Hiccup replacing anger with sarcasm, not the other way around. He didn't know that the anger had always been there, and Hiccup was just less inclined to hide it when he had someone besides himself confirming that it was a legitimate response to the situation.

After a moment, Gobber decided to lighten the mood with another, happier mystery. At least for him. "Aye, that's another thing. How did ye scare that Zippleback off like tha'? I've only seen the like with the most intimidating Vikings on the battlefield." When Hiccup didn't answer, Gobber continued, chuckling at the fond memories. "Aye, I've seen yer father do it before. Just stand in front of a dragon, and look it in the eye until it flies away in fear. Of course, the dragon blood and bits o' brain smeared all over his hammer might have had something to do with that."

Far from cheering Hiccup up, the comparison to his father made him far angrier. After years of being told he looked nothing like his father, one trick with an eel and suddenly he was being compared to him. He wanted to be told he was like his father because of something he had a right to be proud of.

'How dare he compare you to a dragon-killer.'

Toothless's objection reverberated in Hiccup's mind. Something about it struck true. Did he want to be like his father anymore? He now knew that he never would be, if his stature and size hadn't already been a death knell for that dream. His father was a dragon killer. That was something he was becoming more and more convinced as the days passed he would never be. And that wasn't a bad thing. All in all, Hiccup was not pleased with the comparison. "No, I'm not." He spoke without thinking.

"Wha'?" Gobber sounded completely confused. The boy had wanted to be like his father... pretty much forever.

Hiccup backtracked. "I mean... I'll never be as big as him... or as strong... so I'm not like him."

Gobber could tell this wasn't what Hiccup had meant. But he had no idea what he really meant, so he accepted it at face value.

"Eh, you might hit a growth spurt or somethin'. Anythin' else botherin' ya?"

Hiccup's shoulders slumped. He was mainly relieved that Gobber seemed to have dropped the subject of his lateness and not registered his odd reactions as something unusual.

"Nope. Good talk. See you later." Hiccup stood and began walking away.

"Oh, and Hiccup. This is just a suggestion, but ye might wanna stop talkin' to yerself so much. It makes you look... well, crazy."

Hiccup smiled. Gobber didn't know the half of it. But when had he seen him talking to Toothless? Gobber had probably noticed him mutter a few words under his breath now and then. Nothing to worry about. Hiccup smirked as he called out a sarcastic parting shot. "Who says I'm not?"

He didn't see that the sarcasm had been lost on Gobber, who was even more worried about his apprentice's sanity than before. That anger, the talking to himself. It was unusual. More unusual than Hiccup... usually was. But Gobber also had to consider what Hiccup had done with the Zippleback. He decided to wait and see how it all played out. But he would talk to Stoick when he got back. Whether this was a good or bad thing, it wasn't entirely... natural. Something about it unsettled Gobber. He just didn't know what, so he dismissed the unsettled feeling.

Hiccup made his way back to the cove, his good mood somewhat returning as he did his best to put Gobber's unintentionally hurtful remark behind him. Gobber meant well. Still, he was looking forward to spending time with someone that actually understood him. Or at least understood him better than anyone else. Maybe even better than he himself did right now.


	6. Chapter 6

_**Author's note:** _ **I'm posting this a day early, because I don't think I'll be around tomorrow. So enjoy the 24-hour early update!**

Hiccup entered the cove with a saddle, a long piece of rope, a basket of fish, and several plans for the day. Toothless had no plans. He wanted food, and flight, ideally in that order. He also wanted to be around Hiccup, and it was looking like he would get all three. Both of them were happy at that moment, despite the precarious thread of secrecy that their existence was suspended by. Despite the increasing alienation Hiccup felt around his own peers and village. Despite the fact that the only thing standing between Toothless and death by starvation or insanity was a ninety-pound boy who was often in some sort of danger. Despite all of this, they were happy.

"So, ready for a late breakfast? Sorry I couldn't get it to you earlier." Toothless dove at the pile of fish that emerged when Hiccup tipped the basket, eating at an astonishing speed. Hiccup had yet to determine if the apparent desperation of Toothless as he ate was normal or due to intense hunger. He couldn't be sure because he was only able to bring so many fish, and only once a day. He really hoped it wasn't hunger, because there wasn't anything he could do about that. Yet.

'Don't blame yourself for something out of your control. We both know you couldn't get here any sooner.'

Hiccup knew he was right. He waited until Toothless had swallowed his last fish, and drunk his fill from the pond. "So, ready to get started?"

Toothless sat on his hind legs, pupils and eyes wide and mouth slightly open. The very image of anticipation. Then he stopped. His eyes narrowed, and he leaned towards Hiccup. 'That looks painful.'

"What does?"

'You can't see it, can you? Use my senses.'

Hiccup expanded the pocket in his mind and gasped slightly. Aside from this being the clearest and most accurate image he had ever seen of himself, he could see what his friend was talking about. His nose was red and swollen, from when Snotlout had punched him... was it only yesterday afternoon? It felt like so long ago. He had been ignoring the throbbing of his nose this entire time. He was quite good at ignoring pain, having had more than enough practice over the years given a combination of Snotlout, forge injuries and a grumpy healer who was more likely to add to her patient's injuries if she deemed them not serious enough to warrant her time. Now that he thought about it, he could feel the painful force. He knew it wasn't broken, but it was bruised and sore. He collapsed the image. "I'll be fine."

Toothless returned to all fours, and circled Hiccup, looking for any other injuries that had escaped his notice. Though, how he thought Hiccup might have acquired them without him noticing was beyond Hiccup, given that the dragon had been piggy-backing on his senses pretty much all day. Once Toothless had completed his inspection, he looked Hiccup in the eyes. 'This time. What about next time someone decides to hit you? To hurt you. What then? You don't fight back, with words or claws, you don't run, you don't even hide from the ones trying to hurt you!'

Hiccup shook his head. I can't fight back against someone like Snotlout and running and hiding aren't the..." He had been about to say, "the Viking way," but he was starting to realize every time he said that the correct solution in his case was usually the opposite. He didn't like the idea of hiding or running. But he would have been happy to at least have the option, given he definitely did not have any other options at present. The problem was, he had almost no stamina, and was terrible at any kind of stealth or coordination. Hiccup explained this to Toothless, not really sure what to expect.

'That's because you've never had a reason to improve those skills. Or anyone to teach you how. Of course you aren't coordinated if no one teaches you how to fight, or any other skill that requires you to learn coordination. You can't improve what you don't practice.'

Hiccup was annoyed. "Who's going to teach me then?"

Toothless gave him a dead stare, as if he had said something stupid. 'I am, of course.'

Hiccup was silent for a moment, and then he could feel his face burning with embarrassment. "Oh. Of course, sorry."

'Apology accepted. We can start now.' Hiccup was a bit disappointed, he had hoped to do a few other things today.

"What about testing the saddle? And I wanted your help getting rid of that shield stuck in the exit..." That was one of the reasons Hiccup had brought the rope. He had planned to tie it around the shield, and have Toothless pull it loose.

Toothless chuckled, a strange gurgling noise. 'We can do those too. I can work the training around that stuff. In fact...' He crouched down, a playful look in his eyes. 'You want me to wear that saddle? You'll have to catch me first! Consider this the start of your running, and thus endurance training.' Hiccup started to object but stopped himself. If this was how he was going to improve, he might as well. He picked up the saddle. squared his feet. Met the Fury's eyes. And bolted straight at him.

The dragon took off, running at the same pace as Hiccup, speeding up as Hiccup did, and keeping the same distance. He seemed to be able to hear how far away Hiccup was and started correcting his form. While running. Without looking back. Showoff. Although, Hiccup supposed it was easier to do when talking didn't require breath on the runner's part.

'Back straight. Long strides, breath in through the nose and out through the mouth!'

Hiccup followed the dragon's instructions, and he kept up the chase for longer than he would have thought possible, though still not very long. As he really began to flag, Toothless slowed but didn't stop moving.

'Keep moving, walk for a bit before stopping completely. It helps.'

Hiccup did as he was told. After he had regained his strength, Toothless let him begin the process of attaching the saddle and noting any adjustments he would need to make. Thankfully, there weren't too many of those, and nothing major.

As he applied the saddle, Toothless began outlining future plans. 'I think we'll run like this every day. A short sprint before whatever we are going to do. Also, whenever you can you should run here through the forest. That'll help you with endurance, speed, and coordination. Especially if you're carrying a basket of fish.'

Hiccup laughed. "I'm not even coordinated enough to run up a set of stairs, I'd kill myself trying to run that fast through a forest."

Toothless replied patiently. 'You'd run slower at first, and I'm going to be helping you with your coordination. I can point out what you need to do before you have to do it. Dodge and vault enough obstacles, and it'll become instinct. That's how dragons learn to fly in packs without flying into each other. Constant practice.'

Hiccup was a bit daunted by all of this. 'I think if I do this I'll wear myself into the ground. It's too much."

Toothless huffed and responded seriously. 'I won't LET you run yourself into the ground. I know how that feels, and I can access your senses, remember? I can stop you well before you reach that point. Besides, doing it like this will help you improve fast. Much faster than taking it easy and training every once in a while.'

Hiccup weighed his options. He did want to improve, if only because Toothless so clearly thought it would be good for him. What it really boiled down to was, did he trust Toothless not to push him too far? If this had been Gobber, or his father, or any other Viking, he would have said no. But Toothless wasn't a Viking. He understood and accepted Hiccup's current limits. Besides, Hiccup did trust him. He had already trusted Toothless with his life, that first day in the cove, and he was about to trust him to take him into the sky. What was this compared to something like that?

"Ok. I trust you."

Toothless exhaled. 'Thank you.' Then he lifted his head and licked Hiccup in the face.

"Hey! What was that?!" Hiccup was, to put it mildly, disgusted. The saliva was everywhere, and it wasn't coming off.

Toothless had the grace to appear embarrassed, and he explained. 'For dragons, licking each other is an expression of thanks or happiness between friends or family. What do humans do?'

Hiccup thought about it. "I guess the closest thing we have is a hug, or maybe a punch in the arm for Vikings."

'Well, I can't punch you...'

"Good thing."

'... how does a hug work?'

Hiccup stood from the edge of the pond, resigned that this was as close to gone as the saliva was going to get. He demonstrated by holding his arms out. "A hug is when you wrap your arms around the other person, and they do the same to you."

Toothless walked up to Hiccup. He extended one paw and then attempted to extend the other. Because he was on all fours, trying to lift both of his front paws and hold them out with no support resulted in him face-planting.

Hiccup held in his laughter, as he was pretty sure Toothless wouldn't be laughing with him.

Toothless got up. 'That won't work.'

Hiccup was stumped for the moment, but he really would like an alternative to having to deal with Night Fury saliva in the future. It had taken forever to get that stuff off, and he was pretty sure there was still some on his nose despite his best efforts to... Wait. His nose. He interrupted Toothless's sulking to ask a very important question. "Toothless, does my nose still look as bad as before?"

The dragon perked, and lifted himself to get a better view. 'No, it doesn't look nearly as bad now. What did you do?'

Hiccup thought about it. He had registered the dull, throbbing pain, and it hadn't stopped until... "Toothless, I think your spit did something."

The dragon's eyes widened. 'That makes sense! We dragons lick our wounds to keep away infection and help them heal. It makes them hurt a little less too. Still, I've never seen it work so fast.'

"Maybe because I'm not a dragon? dragons have all that scale and thick tissue to get through, so your saliva is probably strong enough to work despite that stuff. So as a human, who don't really have scales..."

Toothless continued the thought. 'You get stronger effects from less saliva because all of it reaches the actual injury!'

Hiccup smiled, the pain in his nose mostly gone. "I think I don't mind your saliva as much now. Still, I'd prefer for you not to lick my face whenever you're happy. Maybe try the hug again, using one arm and your head instead of the other?" Toothless gave it a try. This time he didn't fall flat on his face and rested his chin lightly on Hiccup's shoulder while his opposite arm curled around his other side. It was probably weird looking from the outside, but it felt like a real hug. Toothless pulled away and adopted a contemplative look. "Does that work for you?"

'Yeah, that will work.'

Hiccup smiled. "Well, it looks like we can go flying now!" He gestured to Toothless, who was wearing his full saddle and prosthetic tailfin. Then he remembered something. "Well, almost." He got the piece of rope and tied one end to the edge of the tailfin. He held the other as he climbed onto the saddle for the first time. It fit, and he knew he would be able to lean almost all the way forward if he needed to reduce drag and make himself more streamlined. Most importantly, it was a far more secure perch than the dragon's tail. He pulled the rope, and after a moment he applied enough force to open the tailfin - from the saddle. Success.

This time Hiccup could see Toothless prepare to take off. He was still almost thrown from his saddle by the force. He needed to get used to that because it seemed 'abrupt' was the only way Toothless knew how to take off. As they flew over the cove, it was time to test this method of controlling the tailfin. Hiccup attempted to adjust the fin. and pulled. Harder. He looked back and saw the problem. His hand was further up than the tail, so the rope was pulling at an angle, meaning he had to pull way too hard to make any kind of slight adjustment. Unfortunately, he saw all of this and connected the dots right as he yanked even harder. And of course, this was the yank that actually triggered the tailfin. All the way. Toothless roared in shock as he was yanked to the left, and Hiccup left the saddle as he continued forward, and down into the lake. Again. Well, scratch using his arm to control the tailfin off the list of possibilities. It was too high up. Maybe his foot?

As he and Toothless dried off in their own ways (Hiccup built a proper fire for Toothless to light this time) Hiccup considered another adjustment he would make to the saddle. He was going to attach a line of some sort to the saddle and himself to keep him in place through things like tight turns. At least until he could hold on tight enough himself. Maybe having both hands would help with that. He explained his reasoning to Toothless, and the dragon agreed on all counts.

They sat there in silence for a while, Hiccup leaning against Toothless's side like the time before. Eventually, Hiccup decided to ask one of his many stored up questions. "Hey, Toothless. I was wondering, why do the dragons raid us? From what I can tell, you only eat fish, and you would be able to get all you want from the ocean, if it wasn't for, you know..."

Toothless had been somewhat dreading this conversation, as it would be difficult to explain, but he knew it had to happen eventually. 'We don't raid of our free will. You are right in that most dragons only eat fish. Dragons raid because the Queen forces them to.'

Hiccup asked the obvious questions. "Who is the queen? And how does she force dragons to do anything?"

'This is a bit complicated. The Queen is a massive dragon who lives in the nest. She is apparently capable of enslaving any dragon she sees. Once she enslaves a dragon, they can't leave her range, which is a couple hundred miles. They have to obey everything she says. This part of her power she extends over every dragon she has, and there is almost no way to get out of it unless she lets you out intentionally, which never happens, or you get hit over the head hard enough. That can sometimes shake it. I remember a Grockle who crashed at the nest and was freed from the Queen's control. He tried to fly away, but the Queen recaptured him pretty much immediately, and re-enslaved him.'

Hiccup interrupted Toothless, unable to contain the question any longer. "Is that why you aren't enslaved? You got knocked out when I shot you down?"

Toothless shook his head. 'I don't think so actually, let me finish. That is one of the Queen's powers, and she uses it on all of her subjects all of the time. Her other power is different. She can only use it on one of her subjects at a time. Because of this, she only used it on her most two most powerful dragons. That would be me, and another Night Fury. This other power the Queen uses, it is something like a much stronger version of what we have, but only one-way. Not only can the Queen use the senses of the other dragon, she can control them completely, to the point where they are no better than an extension of her body while she is in control.' Toothless shuddered. 'We two Night Furies were her proxies of choice. As such, I've felt this far too many times. It is one of the worst feelings, to be a passenger not in somebody else's body, but your own, and to know you can do absolutely nothing to stop it. Anyway, the Queen liked to use Night Furies as her proxies because not only were we the most powerful of the dragons she had enslaved, we could do something no other dragon could. We can use a much weaker version of the Queen's power and see through the senses of a lesser creature if we can find one, like deer or Terrible Terrors. The Queen liked to use Terrors as unwitting scouts. When she was done with them, she would, well, kill them.'

Toothless stopped for a moment, then forced himself to keep talking. 'I don't want to talk about that, because then I would have to remember... So, when the Queen gets hungry, she takes over one of her Night Furies, and through them leads her slaves to raid some island, in order to get enough food to satisfy herself. That is what she was doing with me the night you shot me down. However, I remember the Queen releasing me completely just before I hit the ground.' Toothless stopped. 'I think I know why she did, though it isn't a pleasant thought.'

Hiccup shuddered. He also had a pretty good idea. "Why?"

'Because I think she didn't want to experience my death. So, she pulled away as soon as she was sure I would die. I guess she underestimated how tough we Night Furies are. Ironic, given how much time she spends practically as one.'

Toothless seemed done with his story, so Hiccup began to ask the questions that he had been amassing the entire time. He started with an important one. "How long were you there in the nest?"

'As long as I can remember. I might have hatched there, but the problem is the Queen commanded all of her slaves to forget the time they lived before the nest, and never speak of the outside world. So dragons could talk, and teach their young the ways of life outside the nest, but no history, no reason for why customs and rules exist. So, unless I hit my head and remember or something, I can't even be sure of my age. And I still can't remember my name, or who the other Night Fury is, or what their name is.'

Hiccup and Toothless were silent. Hiccup because none of his previous questions could be answered by Toothless in his current state, and Toothless as he relived just how hopeless his situation had been, and in a few ways still was. The odds that he would remember were low, and unless he got lucky he could go his entire life unaware of his original name or past. It was a depressing thought. Hiccup picked up on his friend's mood. "Hey, cheer up. It sucks to not remember, but you'll get your memory back eventually. And I'll be here for you until then. And after."

Hiccup checked the time and knew he needed to leave soon if he wanted to make those adjustments and get to bed at a decent time. Apparently, he was going to need to get his rest from now on, given Toothless's training routine. Still, he decided Toothless could use some cheering up before he went. "I have one more thing we should do today."

Toothless perked up, eager for something to distract himself with.

Hiccup smiled. "I want to get that shield out of the exit to the cove, remember? Can you help me get rid of it?"

Toothless padded over to where he could see the shield, firmly wedged in the gap between the two narrow rock walls.

Hiccup ambled up beside him and considered the problem. "Well, we can't use the rope, because it's all tied up in your tail and saddle right now... and you probably shouldn't blast it because if someone is in the woods they might hear..." Hiccup snapped his fingers, startling Toothless, who had never seen or heard that before. "Got it." He ran off, and a confused Toothless sat there and watched as Hiccup selected a large, straight branch and brought it over, wedging it beneath the shield, forming a rudimentary lever. Hiccup returned to Toothless. "Alright, so we just need to put a lot of weight on the other end of that branch, without breaking it."

Toothless moved over to stand beside the lever. He lightly placed one paw on it and pushed. Nothing. He put both paws on the branch. And pushed. Still nothing. He finally tensed, and jumped a good three feet up, placing all of his weight on the branch.

THAT did it. A little too well. The shield rocketed out of its confinement, and Toothless stared in amazement as it shrunk, sat still against the backdrop of the sky, and then after a long moment began to re-expand. The shield plummeted down and landed in the top of a dead tree that was at least fifty feet tall. The shield struck with such force that the edge stuck into the dead wood, and as a result, it was all but invisible from below. From just above the treeline though, it would undoubtedly be a brazen marker for all to see. Hiccup and Toothless both knew this, and they knew they would have to get it down, so as to not tempt fate by leaving it up there to possibly attract attention. Hiccup turned to Toothless. "We'll have to get that tomorrow." Toothless chuffed in agreement.


	7. Chapter 7

**_Author's Note:_ ** **From this point on,** _**Living Vicariously** _ **has been beta read by the extremely helpful FizzlemcSchizzle. Any increase in writing quality is probably a result of that.**

**To the guest who wrote: "Can't wait for more! I wish you wrote Httyd 3 instead of Dean!" If HTTYD3 ends on a note I don't consider worthy of the series, I was already planning on writing my own version. So, in a way, I will be. Hopefully, I won't have to.**

Hiccup was neither surprised nor enthused when Toothless insisted he at least jog back to the village. With a saddle and a large basket. After having recently run to the point of exhaustion. Toothless said that it would be good practice for the next morning when he would have to do it with a full basket. Hiccup tucked his arm through the shoulder strap and slung the basket against his back.

Toothless looked him up and down, sizing him up. 'Ready?'

Hiccup breathed. In and out. "Yup."

He started jogging. Being in in the middle of the forest, he quickly reached a point where usually he would have stopped to find a way through.

'Jump the log and move to the left as you go.'

He followed Toothless's instructions and, to his mild surprise, barely cleared the log, managing to not stumble horribly. However, he forgot the second part and clipped the tree with his shoulder, dropping like a pile of rocks. He was so embarrassed that he got up and kept running with no prompting from Toothless. Messing up because of a lack of coordination or bad judgment was one thing. That was what he was trying to improve, it was going to happen. He didn't want to mess up because he forgot to pay attention.

'Good. You kept going.' Toothless was happy to see Hiccup wasn't discouraged by his early mistake, and he wanted to be sure Hiccup knew that. His voice had a strong overtone of approval to it.

Hiccup didn't spare the breath he would need to respond. Maybe he should try to figure out if he could talk to Toothless by thinking like the dragon did with him. It would certainly come in handy if he could. He made it about halfway back to the village before Toothless told him to slow to a walk. He had avoided countless obstacles, and only messed up when he didn't put enough force into a jump or leap. Toothless was sticking to simple commands for now, but he promised to move to more interesting maneuvers once Hiccup was coordinated enough. With the saddle growing constantly heavier in his hands, Hiccup had no objections to the idea of walking the rest of the way back. For a creature many times larger and with many more limbs, Toothless actually made a good trainer. It seemed he really did know just when to stop him. Hiccup felt almost back to normal by the time he got close enough to the village to have to sneak the rest of the way to the forge.

After hiding the saddle once more, along with the basket for good measure, Hiccup ventured into the main area of the forge. There were two bent swords to be straightened and sharpened, though how they got so mangled without any dragons to fight was beyond Hiccup's desire to speculate. He figured he could probably attribute it to some result of Viking stupidity. He absent-mindedly began heating the forge, having decided to mend the swords while he worked on the adjustments to the saddle. The adjustments were simple, just a tether attached to the saddle itself, with the other end connecting to Hiccup's belt. It only took a few hours to make the adjustments and fix the swords, but with his late return from the cove, it was getting dark as he finished.

He went to the Great Hall and sat alone, as usual, to eat. He did his best to ignore the dead glare coming from Astrid, who was sitting at a table not too far away. Apparently, she was going to keep holding onto that grudge. Great. Yup, definitely Viking material.

'Why do you like her?'

"Wait, what? How did you know that?" Hiccup really didn't want to have this conversation, and not just because he would look strange mumbling to himself in the middle of the Great Hall, with nobody in earshot.

'It isn't difficult to tell, your eyes wander towards her whenever she's around. You do realize she hates you now, right?'

Hiccup was sure she didn't hate him, she was just a bit upset right now. "She doesn't hate me..."

'If you say so. I know what I can smell, and that is most definitely hate.'

Hiccup was surprised, to say the least. "You can smell emotions?"

'Not directly, but the scent of most living things changes as their emotions do. It's more like you put out a smell based on what you are feeling. That, along with body language was mostly how I understood you as well as I did the first day in the cove. Together, they say quite a lot.'

Hiccup tried his best to absorb this information. "So what exactly is Astrid feeling?"

'Ever since that Zippleback, frustration and a lot of hate.'

Hiccup believed Toothless, but hate seemed a little strong for one incident in the arena. He said as much, still muttering under his breath to avoid looking even weirder that he already did.

'It does seem to be a bit much. Maybe she's got something else going on?'

Hiccup would ponder this when he had a chance, but not when his legs quivered and his belly sagged with food. He yawned and made to leave the Great Hall.

He had just made it to the steps leading down to the rest of the village when Toothless spoke up. 'You're being followed.'

Hiccup kept walking, not very worried. His house, by virtue of being the chief's, was on the slope of the hill leading up to the Great Hall and was the closest house to the Great Hall. He could get there in no time. Still…

"Who is it?" he furtively whispered.

'I can't tell from sound alone. They're trying to be sneaky. It isn't anyone with a peg leg, that's about as far as I can guess.'

Well, Hiccup guessed that ruled out Gobber, at least. He made it to his house, put his hand on the door, and turned to look around. Not a single person in sight. He shrugged and headed inside. Most doors on Berk didn't really have a bolt or lock because that would be cowardly in the eyes of a Viking. However, the Chief was at times responsible for safeguarding the valuables of visiting delegations from other tribes, so a lock was in place as an appeasement to them. He couldn't have used it if his father was home because Chiefing duties kept him out to all hours of the night some days, and he would have been locked out. Hiccup dismissed the unidentified follower from his mind and headed to bed. He had plans for tomorrow, and he wanted to be fully awake and ready by sunrise.

As it turned out, Hiccup woke up even earlier than he had planned. By sunrise, he had already filled the basket of fish and was just setting out into the woods. He made it about five minutes in before Toothless woke up.

The dragon took stock of where Hiccup was. 'You were supposed to be running today.'

Hiccup had forgotten about that, but he did have an excuse. "You were asleep, and I still need you to direct me if I'm going to be running."

Toothless snorted. 'You don't need me to direct you to run. I'm directing you so you can work on your reflexes and agility. Because I'm deciding what path you take, you have to react as I talk instead of knowing what's coming up. It's more effective that way.'

Hiccup started jogging, gradually speeding up as he found his stride. The rest of the trip to the cove was a series of obstacles that Toothless would sometimes steer him towards, and other times away. Hiccup was sure there was some logic behind the dragon's decisions, but he couldn't spare the breath to ask. He made it to the cove in record time despite having to walk a third of the way. Toothless was still holding to his promise to not overwork Hiccup. He was tired, but not so much so that he couldn't catch his breath, and he knew that he'd be mostly back to normal in a few minutes.

They were ready to try out the new steering arrangement before an hour had passed in the cove. Hiccup climbed onto Toothless, this time with the rope attached to the artificial tailfin and his foot, not his hand. Hopefully, this angle would work better for the rope.

'Ready?' Toothless looked back at Hiccup, taking in the latest method of controlling the tailfin.

Hiccup finished checking the knot of the rope on his foot and straightened up. "Ready."

Toothless took off, and Hiccup was much less surprised by the sudden force this time. They had two goals for their time in the air today. First, test the new steering arrangement. Hiccup moved his foot and immediately could tell that the tailfin was now much more sensitive. So much so, he realized, that it might become a problem. His foot didn't have anything to rest on and he had to hold it still with the rest of his leg or risk accidentally adjusting the tail. He would need to add something to the side of the saddle, to rest his foot on. Maybe a pedal of sorts, so he wouldn't have to tie the rope to his foot...

For now, he could make do, even if his leg was starting to go numb. With the fin held in its default position, Toothless was able to glide over to their next destination. Almost. Hiccup's leg was jostled, jerking them into a sharp turn.

Toothless was only able to turn what would have been an out-of-control free-fall into a hard crash-landing.

Hiccup was thrown forward, and his tether's first test in holding him to the saddle was a miserable failure, the line snapping instantly. He was going to have to fix that at some point. Somehow, he managed to land on his feet and stumbled forward.

Hiccup gulped as he frantically looked around for his charge. The tall blades of what smelled like garlic grass greatly limited visibility. Was Toothless hurt? Dead? Where was he?! After casting about, he finally found the dragon and his worry was replaced with confusion, which in turn was replaced with amusement.

Toothless, far from being hurt, was currently rolling around in the grass ecstatically, purring loudly and snapping at the grass playfully, his eyes closed in bliss and every limb thrashing aimlessly, from wings to tail. Hiccup simply stood and stared, not bothering to hold in his laughter now. This was a far cry from the mostly serious, sarcastic creature he was used to.

Toothless opened his eyes, and with massively dilated pupils gazed in Hiccup's general direction. His mouth was slightly open, and his ears were pinned back against his head from rolling around, a few strands of the grass hanging loosely from various places. After a few seconds of eye contact, Toothless purred loudly and continued to roll around, apparently attempting to make contact with every single blade of grass in the field.

In a moment of curiosity, Hiccup carefully accessed Toothless's sense of smell, picking it out alone from the bundle of senses in that corner of his mind. And he almost threw up. Whatever effect the garlic grass had on Toothless, it clearly wasn't something that carried over to humans. That massively overpowering odor was not at all pleasant for Hiccup, magnified through Toothless's far more sensitive nose. He quickly returned to his own, thankfully much duller sense of smell.

Hiccup waited a few minutes, but Toothless showed no signs of getting tired of the grass. He eventually decided more drastic measures were required, or they'd be stuck here all day- not that Toothless would mind. He grabbed a large handful of the grass and approached Toothless's head. He waved the grass under Toothless's nose.

The dragon opened his eyes, pupils as round as possible. He followed Hiccup's hand with his nose, apparently now oblivious to the fact that he was surrounded by a field of identical grass, fixated on this specific handful.

Hiccup slowly backed out and away from the field, Toothless following on shaky legs. He somewhat regained his composure, and once Hiccup put the handful of grass inside his tunic, away from Toothless, the dragon stopped where he stood and dropped. He was still awake and his eyes were open, but he wasn't moving, except for his pupils, which were slowly shrinking to something approaching normal.

"That was weird." Hiccup was still amused by the effect this stuff had on Toothless, and he made sure to remember where this field was, for future reference.

Toothless, on the other hand, was less than pleased. 'I hate that stuff.'

Hiccup smiled broadly. "Really? didn't seem that way a minute ago."

Toothless stood and began to walk again, directly away from the field, his eyes troubled and tail drooping. 'No, really. It makes you lose all control over yourself. I don't like that feeling. It's way too similar to what the Queen did.'

Hiccup's smile faded as he considered this. "That makes sense. I didn't think of that." He abruptly moved over to Toothless, who still looked a bit sad, or maybe depressed by the memories. He pulled the dragon into their version of a hug.

Toothless returned the gesture. After a minute, he spoke, his voice much less depressed. 'What was that for? Not that I'm complaining.'

Hiccup smiled. "You looked like you needed a hug. So, why not?" After a minute, he remembered something he had wanted to ask Toothless before he realized how the grass had affected him. "Does the grass do that to all dragons?"

'As far as I know. I haven't exactly had a chance to test it out.'

Hiccup considered this. Maybe he did have a use for the grass in his tunic after all.

The rest of the day passed pleasantly. Hiccup and Toothless hung around in the forest for a while, Toothless enjoying a personal change of scenery before they headed back. Even though Toothless was a bit reluctant to voluntarily trap himself again, he knew the cove was safe and hidden. It was only temporary.

Hiccup thought that with this latest addition to the saddle he had planned, he would have a working foot-tail system. All that would be left would be learning to use it efficiently and Toothless could take to the air. Later, Hiccup ran back to the village and spent some time in the forge. Gobber was there today, and that meant Hiccup had to sneak parts of his latest design in along with the forge work. Fortunately, he was practiced at this, as he had been building contraptions for years under the blacksmith's nose. As such, the rest of the day passed quickly enough. Gobber did have some news, though. There would be dragon training the next day.

Hiccup woke up the next morning before daybreak again. He rushed to leave the house, knowing he needed to hurry. If Gobber was going to hold training in the morning, Hiccup wanted to have enough time to grab some fish, run to the cove to drop them off, and run back. The running wasn't optional; if he didn't make very good time he would be late for training. But Hiccup was willing to risk being late to avoid Toothless going hungry every other day. He barely made it to the arena in time, and he was already worn out. That didn't bode well.

Of course, everyone else was already there, and they all saw Hiccup run up the bridge to the arena.

Snotlout was the first to comment. "Whatcha running from Hiccup? Must be something pretty bad if you come running towards the cages of vicious dragons, and me."

Hiccup panted. "Who says I'm running from something?"

Snotlout scoffed. "Please. The only time I've seen you run that fast was during the last raid. You know, the one with the Monstrous Nightmare that you led into the center of the village?"

Hiccup didn't answer. Partially because it wouldn't change anything, and partially because he was secretly pleased. His running was definitely improving his stamina if he had run all the way from the cove to the arena and was still going fast when he got there. He didn't even feel that tired.

Snotlout had no idea why Hiccup didn't seem as insulted as usual. He was even more confused to see a small smile before Hiccup turned to face Gobber.

"Am I late?"

Gobber scratched his chin with his good hand. "Nah, we were just about to start. Now all of ye, get in there!"

The teens moved into the arena, and spread out, facing the cages. Hiccup had his dagger, as usual. However, he also had the garlic grass from yesterday hidden in his tunic. He would use it if he got the chance. Astrid turned from her place halfway across the arena and glared at Hiccup. She hefted her ax menacingly, before turning to resume staring at the cage doors.

'I think she wants you to stay away from her.'

"That was pretty obvious."

'You shouldn't though.'

"Wait, what? I want to avoid getting killed, by either the dragon or Astrid!"

'She's trying to get you to back down. Do it, and she'll just keep pushing you around.'

Hiccup laughed mirthlessly. "If I do that she'll hate me even more."

'But she might also respect you if you stand up to her. And I don't think there's a way to both get her to not hate you and stay safe in here. You'll use what you know, like the grass, and it'll make her mad because the only safe way to use your tricks is to make them look real, which will show her up. That's a given. You might as well. Besides, it isn't exactly a good quality to hate people who are better than you. She should know that.'

Hiccup considered that and realized that Toothless had a point. He couldn't see a way to do both. But he still wanted to try. He decided to stay out of her way if possible, but he would use the grass if he could.

The doors of one of the cages slammed open and the Gronckle barreled out, just like the last time. Only, this time there were no shields conveniently lying around. The Gronckle took in its surroundings and made a beeline for Snotlout. It slammed him so hard he was sent flying and didn't even wait until he hit the ground to start searching for a new target.

Astrid was sneaking up on it, creeping into striking range.

At that moment, the Gronckle saw Hiccup.

'Get ready. It's going to charge you just like it did Snotlout.'

Hiccup subtly grabbed the grass with his unoccupied hand, under the cover of getting into a fighting stance. However stupid that looked with just a knife. He would have brought a small ax he had for training, but he hadn't wanted to slow himself down running with even more weight. So he just had his knife. And the grass.

As the Gronckle barreled at Hiccup, he held out the handful of garlic grass and closed his eyes, hoping it would notice the smell in time. It definitely did, because it stopped right in front of Hiccup's outstretched hand. Nobody could see him from behind the Gronckle's considerable bulk, so Hiccup rubbed the grass on its nose. Overwhelmed with the sensation, it collapsed onto its side, revealing a very furious Astrid on the other side of the ring. All in all, it hadn't been thirty seconds since the Gronckle was first released. Hiccup had ended the match before it could even start. And he had done it in a way that must have looked like he knocked the Gronckle out with his bare hands.

Gobber looked almost crestfallen. "Well... I guess training is over. No one can wake this lump of rock, and have ye ever tried to move an unconscious dragon? They go limp, ye see, and it makes 'em really hard to carry..." He was rambling, waving his hook for emphasis as he talked.

The teens were eager to get out of the arena before Gobber thought of something else for them to do, so they headed for the door. Even Hiccup, who wanted to make the trip back to the cove as quickly as possible. That didn't mean they had forgotten what had happened, as Hiccup was currently hoping.

They surrounded him just outside the arena, on the bridge connecting it to the rest of the village. They almost all spoke at once, with only Astrid holding her silence.

Hiccup only heard Snotlout clearly, because he was the loudest. "How exactly does Hiccup the Useless, of all people, punch out a dragon?" His voice was suspicious.

Tuffnut answered first. "How do we know he punched it? Maybe he kicked it! I mean, no one saw him."

Ruffnut punched Tuffnut, almost knocking him off of the bridge. "Stupid, you can't knock out a dragon by kicking it."

Snotlout shouted, frustrated. "And Hiccup shouldn't be able to do it at all!"

During all of this, Hiccup had been trying to subtly slip away. He finally succeeded when Snotlout and Tuffnut started yelling at each other, opening up a space behind Snotlout for Hiccup to slip through. He made it to the village before any of the teens noticed he was gone. Except for Astrid. She saw the whole thing.

Hiccup was halfway through the village when Toothless spoke up. 'Turn around for a second.'

Hiccup did. He saw a few villagers, a few chickens, Astrid walking towards him, Ack talking with- Wait, Astrid walking towards him?

'You should make yourself scarce.'

Hiccup agreed wholeheartedly. He ducked behind one of the fish storage warehouses and quickly moved around to the back. From there, he took off, heading towards the nearest edge of the village.

'She's still on your tail, don't go to the cove.'

Hiccup didn't dare look back, but he increased his speed. He broke into the forest and bolted in the opposite direction to the cove. Even he could hear Astrid behind him. She wasn't a quiet runner, and by the sounds of it, she was in a full out sprint. He wasn't sure what she intended, but he wasn't going to risk being caught by an angry Viking with an ax. The problem was, he still wasn't faster than her. At least, not in the village... "Toothless... tell me... where to go... obstacles slow her... maybe more than me..."

He was hoping that Astrid wasn't agile enough to compete with him when he had the advantage of a little practice and forewarning running at full tilt through the dense forest. Toothless began instructing him immediately, directing him around and through places that he wouldn't have known were even passable. Having an angry Astrid with an ax behind him was a great motivation, and the adrenaline was very helpful in sharpening his reflexes.

Hiccup moved quickly, ignoring the developing pain in his side, following Toothless's directions. But Astrid was still following him. A minute in, they ran out into something of an open patch in the forest, caused by a steep hillside devoid of trees. And on Berk, the words 'steep hillside' implied a place just sloped enough to not be called a cliff. Hiccup saw it with something akin to hope. If Toothless could direct him up the near-cliff, Astrid would either have to go around or follow behind, slowing her down.

Toothless knew that too. He directed Hiccup straight at the hill, pointing out exactly which parts of the hillside looked stable, and which did not. He wasn't at all distracted by the stress and physical exertion both runners were enduring, so he could calmly determine where Hiccup needed to go. And Hiccup needed the help. This particular hillside was extremely unstable, made primarily out of weak sandstone deposits. Any weak point would crumble at the slightest pressure, providing no support whatsoever.

Following Toothless's detailed advice, Hiccup began the half-run, half-climb up the hill. He was surprised by just how many potential handholds Toothless passed up. He would have grabbed half of them without a second thought. But he trusted a detached third-party's judgment over his own given he could barely see at the moment. The combination of dust from crumbling stone and the harsh sunlight present here was blinding him. He faintly heard a series of sounds behind him. His best guess was that Astrid had grabbed a weak supporting ledge, and when it crumbled, slid back down quite a way. Her cursing was the loudest thing in the otherwise near-silent chase, punctuated by panting and the noise of rock shifting underfoot.

Toothless was actually surprised by how well Hiccup was doing. Hiccup had made it up the hill without faltering and kept on running without stopping. That surprise quickly turned to horror a few minutes of hard running later, when he saw what he had unwittingly directed Hiccup towards.

The path to either side was blocked off by underbrush too thick for a human to move through easily, if at all. The natural path Hiccup was following was, in fact, a seasonal riverbed, the result of the yearly flow of water from the peaks of Berk down to the ocean in the spring when the snow briefly melted. As such, this path only led one place. Unfortunately, this particular runoff stream didn't lead to a nice beach. Berk was an island of cliffs, and this particular stream ended by flowing off of a particularly high one. In essence, it was a dead end. And if Astrid hadn't been left far enough behind by the hillside, there just might be an emphasis on 'dead'.

Astrid ran doggedly through the forest, persevering despite the many hang-ups and stumbles that came with running through a dense forest at high speed. Or, should have come with running through a dense forest at high speed. She had been catching up to Hiccup, intending to make it clear to him that she was going to win the training, and that if he got in her way again (she considered distracting the dragon at a critical moment 'getting in her way') she would make him regret it. There was too much at stake for her to let some clumsy fishbone ruin her chances.

Well, he was supposed to be clumsy. But when she had followed him into the forest, he hadn't slowed down to deal with the tangled undergrowth or avoided it, he had sped up and run straight through it. Astrid tried her best to follow, but Hiccup seemed to know what was coming and he didn't stumble or slow down once as he led her through increasingly tangled and obstructed paths. She was tripped up by unstable footing and forced to slow for obstacles she hadn't seen in time. That Thor-forsaken hill had slowed her down far too much, with all of its treacherous ledges and crumbling handholds. By the time she had reached the top, after several setbacks, Hiccup was nowhere to be seen. She had kept going. He had to be ahead of her somewhere. But she couldn't pick up his trail. She had never been great at tracking, and the way Hiccup had run, he avoided almost everything and didn't leave anything for her to track. No broken branches, no footprints in patches of mud, no nothing.

She eventually had to admit defeat. She wanted to scream in frustration, but that would have given her position away to any potential predators. She turned and began to make her way back towards the village, seething all the way. Her legs ached, scratches ran along her arms, legs, and face - courtesy of various branches she hadn't noticed in time, her eyes were stinging from the dust of the crumbling sandstone, and to top it all off, she had absolutely nothing to show for it all. Not a suitably threatened Hiccup, no advantage in training, nothing. Although... Now she knew something no one else did. Hiccup was pretty fast in the forest. Which was really weird, because he had always been clumsy. There had been no sign of clumsiness as he avoided her; he had made it look easy! She wondered if that was what he spent his spare time doing now. Running randomly through the forest.

Hiccup stood silently in the dead end, ready to bolt the second he heard sounds of pursuit, through the thick undergrowth if need be.

Toothless listened through his ears, confident he would hear Astrid before Hiccup, even if they technically were both using the same ears.

After a minute Hiccup relaxed. He had lost her. He spent a few minutes just quietly walking through the forest, in the general direction of the cove. He wasn't worried about getting lost, having explored the entire island quite a few times over the years. With no friends who would deign to hang out with the "worthless little fishbone", Hiccup spent a lot of time just wandering the wilderness. He made it back to the cove in good time, though he was still worn out from the chase.

Toothless, on the other hand, was overflowing with adrenaline of his own for which he had had no outlet, given his part in the chase was to give instructions not run like his life depended on it. The moment Hiccup entered the cove he was there, running in circles around Hiccup. He needed a way to let off some steam, so he left Hiccup and ran a lap around the cove at full speed. But he didn't stop at just a simple circle around the pond.

As Hiccup watched, Toothless used his powerful hind legs to propel himself off of the ground, and onto one of the cliff faces walling in the cove. He held there for a split second, completely vertical on the wall, before pushing off and gliding out into the middle of the pond. He immediately upon hitting the water dove down, and Hiccup lost sight of Toothless entirely for a short time. A few seconds later, Toothless launched from the water on the other side of the pond, gaining several feet of air in the process. With that out of his system, the dragon settled for running at top speed in random circles.

Hiccup could only watch in awe as Toothless sped past, moving far quicker than anything he had ever seen run, and turning almost instantly at random intervals. He knew then that there was no way he would ever match a Night Fury running at full speed. He doubted any human could.

Hiccup considered his performance in the forest. It had been sufficient to lose Astrid, but it was nothing compared to this. Toothless was far more powerful and agile than Hiccup ever could be. He wondered in a sudden wave of guilt how impressive Toothless had been when he had both tailfins. All of this, combined with the extra options flying gave must have been awe-inspiring when Toothless decided to cut loose.

Once Toothless had used up some of his nervous energy, he returned to Hiccup. He stood in front of him, quivering slightly.

Hiccup laughed a little at that. "Gee, you would think you were the one running from an angry Viking with an ax!" His words were humorous, but his tone was almost sad. He saw now just how little his friend would actually need him if it wasn't for his tail, which was Hiccup's fault. And how much he relied on Toothless. It wasn't a fair trade at all.

Toothless immediately picked up on the change in tone. 'What is it?'

Hiccup blurted out the only thing that summed up what he was feeling. "Why do you even care about me? You're so much better in every way. Stronger, faster, everything. I can't even run away right without your help."

Toothless was so shocked his mouth hung open a little bit. His ears dropped, and his eyebrows slanted in confusion. 'Hiccup?' This was not at all what he had been expecting after a successful escape from a dangerous enemy. He had been expecting excitement, not self-pity.

Hiccup asked a question that had been lurking in the back of his mind for a while now, unacknowledged. "Would you even care about me if your tailfin was still whole? If somehow it grew back right now, what would happen? Am I just your friend because I'm trying to help you, and keeping you alive in here?"

Toothless knew what the problem was now. 'No, we would still be friends. And I am not better than you. We're just different. I'm stronger physically, but…' He carefully lifted a paw and tapped Hiccup on the forehead. 'You're stronger here. And I don't make friends easily.' He looked down. 'Or really at all. Not something that happened in the nest, under the Queen. All energy went into staying alive and out of sight.'

Hiccup sat down, staring up at the dragon in front of him. It felt appropriate, given the situation. "I still don't get it. Why do you care?"

Toothless didn't like Hiccup staring up at him, as if he was looming in judgment. He set down on all fours and made sure they were looking at each other straight on. He chuffed thoughtfully. 'First off, why shouldn't I care? What do you think is wrong with you, that no one should be your friend without some ulterior motive? Can't it just be because I like you as a person?'

Hiccup broke their eye contact. "No one else does." There were fifteen years of isolation and rejection in those quiet words.

Toothless huffed. 'That's their loss. And their blindness. There's absolutely nothing wrong with you.' He snorted in aggravation. 'I've seen the rest of your village. I wouldn't be friends with any of them if they had done exactly what you did.' He didn't really know how to explain that any more clearly, but it was true. 'I already don't like most of them, and it has only been a few days.'

Hiccup grinned a little despite himself. "I figured as much. The dragon doesn't like a village of dragon killers. What a shock." He thought about what Toothless had said. "I don't know, really. This just doesn't feel right for some reason. No one else, not even my own father, can stand to be around me for long. Even Gobber gets tired of being around me after a while. And yet the one person who has all the reasons in the world to hate me doesn't. He wants to be my friend, even when he has to protect me all the time because I'm too weak to protect myself."

Toothless moved closer. 'You need to forget everyone else. Right here, right now, I am your friend because I want to be, and I don't mind protecting you in the slightest. That's what friends do, and you're risking your life to keep me hidden and alive, so it is in no way unfair to me. Get that through into your intelligent but thick head, and stop belittling yourself.' He wanted Hiccup to just forget his past entirely if it caused this much doubt and pain. But that wasn't possible, so he'd just try to make sure Hiccup knew this as strongly as he remembered past pains. To emphasize his words, he put his chin on Hiccup's shoulder and purred softly.

Hiccup took those words to heart. He still didn't feel entirely comfortable with Toothless always protecting him in some way, but he would someday figure out a way to do the same. Because that was what friends did. "Okay. And thank you."

Toothless didn't stop purring. 'You needed to hear that, I think. No need to thank me.' He inhaled deeply. 'Why do you smell like the sea? You haven't been anywhere near the ocean.'

Hiccup laughed softly. "That would be sweat, not seawater. It happens when humans get overheated. Saltwater comes out of our skin." The sudden change in conversation was strange, but they both had said what needed to be said, and that was it. "The running I just did made me sweat enough to find puddles in my boots later."

Toothless rumbled in amusement. Hiccup seemed to be feeling better. Maybe now they could get back to what should be a moment of happiness. He suspected this wouldn't be the last he would see of Hiccup's past tormenting him with doubt, but he'd help Hiccup deal with that when the time came. 'You did great! Now do you see the benefits of running?'

Hiccup laughed again at the dragon's excitement, genuinely happy now. "I guess I just needed the right motivation. Does this mean I don't have to run to the cove anymore?"

Toothless narrowed his eyes slightly. 'No. Now we start with the fun stuff, like what you did today. Besides, it saves time, and you can still stand to improve your stamina.'

"Fine, but no more running today. My legs can only take so much."

Toothless nodded, an exaggerated gesture coming from a dragon whose head was the size of Hiccup's torso.

"In a few minutes, we can go..." Hiccup remembered something. "Aw, I was in such a rush to get you your fish and get to the arena on time, I totally forgot." Toothless looked confused for a second, but then he realized what Hiccup forgot.

'The saddle.'

Hiccup nodded glumly. "Yup, left it in the forge."

'Once you really finish it, you should just start leaving it here' Toothless suggested, not very disappointed. The excitement of the chase was almost as good, though he wouldn't want Hiccup to have to do that every day. Still, he needed to burn some more energy.

"Well, what do we do now?"

Toothless stood on all fours and stretched. 'I have a few ideas.'


	8. Chapter 8

_**Author's Note:** _ **Yet another day-early update.**

Hiccup moved behind a large tree, trying to step as quietly as possible. He carefully avoided the fallen branches that would give him away if he stepped on them, stretching his legs to step on a small stone beyond them instead, ducking to avoid some overhanging pine needles, and even attempting to breathe quietly. He considered the path to his next likely hiding spot, another tree a few yards away. He decided to chance it and took a few quick, precise steps to stealthily close the gap between him and his target. Step, step, hide, exhale. Look, step, step, hide, exhale.

He continued like this from tree to tree, slowly but surely making his way towards his ultimate goal. With only a couple dozen trees away from his target when the wind shifted. His target turned to face him, and he knew he had been noticed.

'Better. This time you just got unlucky. I only noticed you because the wind shifted, and I could smell you.'

Hiccup sighed. He liked this new training the Night Fury had come up with, but it was a bit frustrating. This had to be the thirtieth time Toothless had caught him, and they had only started this yesterday. He had yet to get within fifty feet without the Night Fury knowing about it. Hiccup had definitely learned quickly, as he and Toothless had spent the remainder of yesterday working on his stealthiness. The dragon had had him walk through the forest, and as he did Toothless would point out every mistake he made that increased how noticeable he was. After a few hours of that, Hiccup had figured out the ground rules for sneaking around. Don't make noise, be patient, always move slowly, always be aware of what's around you. It was the fine points he kept messing up. Stuff like forgetting to watch for branches he might step on, or keeping himself downwind of his target. He might have been better at this if hunting was a thing on Berk, but the island's isolated nature and draconic raiders meant that game in the forest was almost nonexistent. He would rather be working on flying, but after a certain number of crashes each day Toothless refused to continue. Something about repeated dunkings in the cove lake made the idea unappealing after a while, and they were barely staying up long enough to do anything except leave the cove on occasion.

"I still can't get close without you noticing."

'That would be because I'm a dragon. You should know better than any human how sharp my hearing and eyesight is. Not to mention my sense of smell. Why do I have to keep reminding you that getting within three hundred feet is good, let alone fifty?'

Hiccup felt a little better. His dragon thought he was doing well.

But he could do better.

'Besides, you only need to sneak around Vikings, not dragons. That, I can tell you from experience, is not hard.' Toothless was walking in a random direction now, with Hiccup following behind. They were finding another spot in the forest for them to use for the next round.

"Why wouldn't I have to sneak away from dragons?" Hiccup stepped over a small fallen tree.

Toothless snorted. 'Asides from the fact that you don't fight them? You would want them to smell you before they see you, so you would want to be upwind.' Toothless took in the confusion written clearly on Hiccup's face and elaborated, boosting Hiccup over a boulder in the way with his head, before jumping up and over after him. 'You spend a lot of time in close contact with me. My smell is rubbing off onto you. You didn't smell like much of anything except smoke and metal to start with, so 'Night Fury' is now the best way to describe you from scent alone. It won't scare other dragons off, but it will stop them from attacking on sight. No one wants to mess with anything that spent time with a Night Fury and lived to tell the tale, regardless of what they look like.'

Hiccup was happy with that. "So basically, because of you I SMELL intimidating?" He struck a manly pose, which happened to involve his foot on Toothless's side. He raised a closed fist in triumph. "The only man in the world to see a Night Fury and live to tell the tale!"

Toothless rolled over, trapping Hiccup beneath him before continuing the roll, freeing Hiccup.

"The only man to survive… being crushed by…. a Night Fury's massive bulk!" Hiccup didn't look very triumphant now, flat on the ground, struggling to replenish the air he had just had squished out of him.

'What a great accomplishment. Now if it had been a Gronckle crushing you, maybe. But yes, you smell scary.'

"Cool! Hey, what do Vikings usually smell like?" Hiccup had regained his lost wind and sat back up.

Toothless answered without any hesitation, in a completely neutral voice. 'Blood, anger, and stupidity. Sometimes, all of that plus a brain-deadening stench born of lack of hygiene. That part depends on the Viking.'

Hiccup laughed. That sounded about right. And the idea that Vikings could smell so bad that it hurt was entirely believable. Some Vikings could trace their last bath back their most recent shipwreck.

He had a sobering thought. He didn't even smell like a member of his village, even before he had met Toothless. He really wasn't one of them. He pushed that thought away, as it came with the confusing mixed feelings he had had recently in regards to being like everyone else. Hiccup decided to focus on something else.

"well, time for attempt number thirty-one!" He said, walking away from Toothless. The dragon sat down, knowing it would be quite a while before Hiccup came into range again. He had to make his way out past Toothless's sight or hearing range, circle around to some angle the Fury wouldn't expect, and then he could start his way stealthily back. To make it even possible for Hiccup, Toothless wasn't allowed to access Hiccup's senses, which meant that while Toothless could still talk to Hiccup, it wasn't two-way communication, and he had to wait in the clearing mentally as well as physically. He generally slept in a patch of sunlight for a while.

As Hiccup had been thinking, he had also been running out towards the edge of Toothless's visual range. He wasn't able to go as fast as he could with Toothless advising him, but he could still handle running through the forest unscathed much faster than he would have a few days ago. He was improving in this, at least. Hiccup had never been super patient, and he didn't consider the fact that he had only really been training for a few days so far. He also hadn't really been taught any physical skills in the past, except for one disastrous attempt by his father a few years ago, so he had no frame of reference for how long this kind of thing usually took. Stoick had once gone on a 'weapon-readiness' program with Hiccup. The problem was, Stoick had done this when Hiccup was ten, and incapable of even swinging the heavy warhammers and axes Stoick wanted him to practice with. But Stoick had stuck to it for a full week, not dropping it even when Hiccup actually fainted out of exhaustion just carrying the weapons to the training grounds on the other side of the village… multiple times. As a result, while Hiccup found training with Toothless to be vastly preferable, he still felt he was learning too slow.

Toothless on the other hand was adamant that Hiccup was learning and improving at an exceptional rate, by Viking or dragon standards. He had said that it was a combination of the Hiccup's natural intelligence and the fact that teaching from inside his head was very effective. Toothless also credited his own teaching abilities, of course. It helped that stealth and speed were things Hiccup was naturally suited for, unlike most Vikings. His wiry, tall frame might not be able to support as much weight (though he wasn't as weak as he looked, thanks to working in the forge) but he had strong lungs and long legs suited for running, and it was easier to hide with less size and weight. As a result of all this, though he was learning far quicker than he should have expected, Hiccup pushed himself through impatience, and Toothless had to stop him from overworking himself far more often than he had anticipated. And it had only been a few days.

Hiccup had made it out of range and had circled around to the right, hoping the river flowing through this part of the forest would mask any noises he accidentally made. He checked the wind, confirming that he was downwind of Toothless, and began his stealthy approach. Once again, sliding from tree to tree on light feet, he found himself within fifty feet of the dragon, but that was the easy part. The dragon's hearing in particular was what always got him here. He thought about it for a moment, then smiled. Maybe he could use that to his advantage instead of against him. He moved quietly over to the riverbed, silently palmed some stones, and returned to his spot.

The Night Fury in question had relocated somewhat, to stay in the slowly shifting patch of sunlight. He was currently lying next to a large tree, his head facing to Hiccup's left.

Perfect!

Hiccup wound up and lofted the first stone as far as he could forward and to the right. The stone landed among the dead branches with a snap, and Toothless's head whipped around to face the direction of the noise, away from Hiccup. He waited a few seconds, and the dragon dismissed the noise. Once Toothless lay back down, Hiccup threw the next two stones as quickly and as silently as he could. These landed further to the right, but slightly closer to Toothless's position. Hiccup smiled as the dragon got up, and began silently moving towards the sounds. He guessed that Toothless was planning on ambushing where he thought Hiccup was, for fun. As the dragon moved away, Hiccup quickly stole behind the tree Toothless had been lying in front of. As he had hoped, the Fury spent a few moments checking the area where the stones had landed and then padded back to his spot. A few feet away from Hiccup, who couldn't be seen from this angle, couldn't be heard because he wasn't moving, and couldn't be smelled because he was downwind of the dragon. This was by far the closest he had ever gotten.

Hiccup considered trying to touch Toothless's back himself, for the ultimate victory. But, he realized that startling a dragon might not be a good idea. He had a vivid image of being sent flying or pinned by Toothless before his friend realized it was him. But he still wanted to do something dramatic to announce his victory. Maybe something that put a bit more distance between them. So, he grabbed a fallen branch that still had some pine needles on it, and ever so slowly lifted it into position. He decided to go for the Fury's back because apparently, that spot was impossible for the dragon to reach without rolling over. He hoped that meant any reaction would be slightly delayed.

He leaned out from behind the tree and extended the branch. Toothless didn't suspect a thing, though Hiccup thought that if he was any closer, the dragon would feel his body heat or hear his heartbeat. He slowly lowered the branch and the pine needle lightly brushed Toothless's back. The dragon shifted a little, subconsciously trying to rid himself of what he must have thought was an annoying fly or something. Hiccup held in his amusement and lowered the branch a bit further.

The instant Toothless felt a substantial pressure on his back, he leaped, turned, and started a snarl- only to cut it short when his eyes beheld Hiccup. Toothless stood entirely frozen for a moment, and Hiccup did the same.

Then Hiccup couldn't hold it in any longer, and the laughter he had been containing burst out.

Toothless was still not moving, and simply stared at Hiccup as he collapsed, laughing uproariously. Toothless spoke. 'I'm not sure whether to be proud, embarrassed, or both. I guess that's what I get for telling you that three hundred feet was good. I assume the noises I heard weren't you?'

Hiccup answered after he had control of his breathing again. "They were, actually. I threw rocks to distract you, so I could get closer without you noticing."

Toothless's eyes widened. 'Well done.' Then they narrowed again. 'But did you really have to tickle my back? Now it itches like crazy, and that's the hardest place for me to scratch!'

Hiccup felt a little bad about that. "I can do that." He clambered onto the dragon's back, for once bereft of the saddle, and proceeded to just randomly scratch around the general area. He quickly learned that scratching a Night Fury's back while sitting on it wasn't a good idea, as Toothless arched his back and accidentally threw Hiccup off. Hiccup was undeterred and managed to reach the dragon's back with his hands while standing by his side. Toothless really seemed to enjoy it, so Hiccup gradually moved towards his head, so as to keep scratching without having to stand on his toes to reach. A minute later, he discovered something.

Apparently, dragons have a pressure point slightly to the side and back from their jawbone. The human equivalent would be the soft spot on the underside of the jaw. For dragons, this was apparently enough to knock them out for about fifteen minutes. Unfortunately, Hiccup made this discovery while standing too close and spent that entire time trying to wriggle his feet out from under a heavy head.

When he woke up and was told what had happened, Toothless was unsympathetic, though he wasn't mad about it. 'That's what you get for knocking a dragon out while standing too close!'

Hiccup felt he had to defend himself. "How was I supposed to know about that? Why is that even a thing?"

Toothless thought for a moment. 'I don't know why it works, but it's great for getting hatchlings to settle down. Didn't think it worked on adults though.' Toothless got up and stretched before continuing, finally freeing Hiccup's feet. 'That could come in handy.'

"What, having sleeping problems?" Hiccup laughed at that. He playfully batted the dragon's ear. "You of all people shouldn't have any trouble getting sleep. You've got the most peaceful place on the island as your bedroom!"

Toothless nudged Hiccup, just hard enough to make him stumble, and laughed at Hiccup's affronted expression. 'No, I meant for you in the arena. I would let you practice it some more, but we should go back to the cove for that.'

"Why would I need to practice it?"

'If you plan to use it against an aggressive dragon, you have to know where the spot is right away, not just the general area.' Hiccup was silent for a few minutes.

"Wait, would practicing on a Night fury even help? You're a different type of dragon, so the spot probably wouldn't be in the same exact location anyway. I'll be lucky if it's even in the same general area."

By this point, they had reached the cove, and they split up momentarily as Hiccup came in via the crack in the cliffs, and Toothless glided down.

'You have a good point. Besides, I want to be awake when you run back, and it's almost time.' Hiccup sighed, looking up. Dragon training was supposed to be bright and early tomorrow, and he needed to get up early enough to get Toothless his breakfast, and the saddle this time, and make it back before training started. He was already stretched on sleep as it was, so Toothless wanted him to go to sleep early that night. Hiccup couldn't fault the dragon's logic. Besides, he already felt tired, and he still had to run back. Speaking of which.

"You don't have to be awake when I run back, I can go fast enough on my own if I avoid the hard parts."

The Night Fury snorted. 'I wanted to start you on the less basic stuff, the fun stuff. Now is a great time.'

Hiccup had to agree, when he had gotten back to the village, a good half hour later than usual, that the less basic stuff was, for lack of a better word, fun. If fun, in this case, meant really difficult and potentially painful if done wrong. He couldn't argue that doing stuff like kicking off of trees to change direction or leap fallen logs wasn't cool as heck, because it was. He did, however, feel that he might be a bit in over his head in actually doing it. These new stunts felt like something meant for a creature with four legs, and while the few times he had actually succeeded undoubtedly must have looked and definitely felt awesome, they were far outnumbered by the times he had just not gotten enough force behind his rebounds to do anything, and ended up just kicking a tree awkwardly before sprawling on the ground. Still, Toothless assured him that these new moves wouldn't be used so much in an actual run, and were mostly for changing direction last minute at speed, something Hiccup had had problems with on his run from Astrid. In all honesty, his biggest motivation was something more personal. Stealth and running fast through thick forest was useful, but probably not very impressive to watch. This, though, was useful and impressive. The part of Hiccup that still wanted acknowledgment from the rest of his village liked anything he could learn that would impress Vikings. Even if such demonstrations would lead to dangerous questions and were not an option for the foreseeable future.

The next day, Hiccup and Toothless agreed to forego the more complicated maneuvers in favor of making it to the cove as fast as possible. Hiccup woke up long before the sun and had enough time to stay with Toothless for a few minutes as the dragon ate his fish, in order to catch his breath. At Toothless's request, Hiccup 'practiced' on him, though they both knew it wouldn't do much to help Hiccup with a different type of dragon. Hiccup then ran again, all the way back to the village, through the village, and up across the bridge to the arena. He had underestimated how fast he was now that he had enough stamina to go the whole way with energy to spare and had gotten there slightly before anyone but Gobber. His earlier start also helped with that, because he had now been up for a good two hours, and he was more alert than the last time he had made this early run before training.

The other teens stopped on the way to the arena as Hiccup passed them. He hadn't even noticed the group, because they were coming from the Great Hall, and just emerging from a side street to the one he was running on. As they watched him go by, each had their own opinion on what they had seen. Fishlegs was trying to remember if he had ever seen Hiccup run so fast, and so easily. He mentally updated the numeric stats he kept on everything, including the other teens, to reflect what he had just seen, adding one to Hiccup's speed, and two to endurance.

Ruffnut and Tuffnut had been fighting but had stopped to watch. "Why aren't you that fast?"

"Why aren't you? We run from our victims all the time! Speed is one of a prankster's top assets!"

"He's moving in on our territory!"

"Mm," Tuffnut solemnly said, "Yes, We cannot allow this to continue."

Ruffnut crossed her arms and said with half-lidded eyes, "So this is what it's come to. So sad, so sad."

Snotlout was not bothered by Hiccup's speed or apparent endurance. He valued strength and strength alone. His only worry was that he might need help catching Hiccup in the future, and the Twins would be happy to assist him with that, so it wasn't a problem.

Astrid was extremely unhappy with what was to her was a reminder of her chase the other day. She remembered thinking she could outrun him on clear ground and she hated that he was making her question that, too. She was still much faster than him in a fair race, but he seemed intent on closing that gap. She was also becoming increasingly suspicious. This increase in endurance wasn't by any means unnatural, and neither was his speed in the forest, but there was no way it was accidental. She was sure he had to be training with someone. She considered finding out who but brushed it off. She would just train even harder in response. That twig would not be allowed to threaten what was rightfully hers.

Gobber was surprised to see Hiccup was the first there and even more surprised that he had apparently run there. "Ye know, ye could just get up earlier. Save on the runnin'."

Hiccup replied without thinking about it. "I've been up since an hour before dawn."

Gobber absent-mindedly tightened his hook hand. "Then why did ye have ta run here?"

Hiccup realized his mistake and quickly thought up an explanation. "Oh, I just lost track of time. Been happening a lot lately."

'You could always just tell him it's good exercise.' Toothless thought that that was a good explanation, and it was true too.

Hiccup couldn't reply, not with Gobber staring right at him. He would explain later that Gobber knew very well Hiccup had never cared about physical fitness beyond what was expected of a Viking, which he failed automatically.

"Eh, jes' don't let all yer runnin' tire ye out before training starts!"

"Do I look tired?"

Gobber had to admit that Hiccup didn't look overly exhausted, his eyes still bright and alert. Just a bit sweaty. He figured Hiccup must have just come from his house to here, or maybe from the forge.

The conversation ended as the other teens filed in, Astrid leading the group. Gobber and Hiccup both noticed that she was already in a bad mood, but neither knew why.

Toothless had a pretty good guess. 'She looks like she still remembers you outrunning her in the woods.'

Hiccup realized that this was the first time he had seen her since that memorable event. He hoped she wouldn't mention it, though he was pretty sure she wouldn't. If she did, she would have to explain how he got away. He was fairly certain her pride would make that not worth the risk. He would have to avoid being anywhere alone with her, though, and he definitely didn't want to repeat the chase, so he would have to be careful how he left for the cove.

Gobber slammed the door shut behind them. He moved to the levers and said a few words of encouragement. "Today's the Nadder. No maze now, so try not te' get killed in less than two minutes. I got a barrel o' mead riding on tha'."

Before anyone could question the morality of taking bets based on the life-threatening endangerment of teenagers, Gobber released the Nadder from its cage.

Hiccup noticed immediately that it was thinner than last time. It was also slower. Whatever Gobber and the other Vikings were feeding it, it wasn't enough.

The next few minutes followed a pattern. The Nadder would focus on a teen and rush towards them. Either the teen would ward it off with their weapon or the other teens would. The Nadder had done this to Fishlegs, both of the twins separately, and Snotlout. Hiccup figured it would go after either him or Astrid next.

From the look on her face, Astrid knew it too. She hefted her ax and glared a promise of murder at Hiccup if he interfered when it rushed her. This one was hers.

Hiccup was more than happy to let Astrid handle it. The Nadder, on the other hand, had a different plan. Hiccup wasn't sure what made the Nadder choose to rush him before Astrid. Maybe it was the fact that he was way less of a threat.

Whatever the reason, it rushed him. It got about halfway before something happened.

Hiccup had been close to the same wall for the entire training session and, as a result, was always downwind. Now, as the Nadder rushed him, the wind changed.

The Nadder's nostrils expanded and it slid to a stop directly in front of Hiccup, inhaling deeply in what seemed to be confusion.

'Night Fury scent, remember? Now use the pressure point before Astrid beheads her!'

Toothless spoke quickly, and Hiccup picked up on that urgency. As he searched frantically with his hands for the spot, he could hear Astrid screaming as she rushed them. The Nadder heard it too, and Hiccup barely had time to hit the spot before the Nadder would have jerked away to face Astrid. Instead, she collapsed into a contented sleep just as Astrid reached them.

Hiccup wasn't very happy with Astrid for a variety of reasons. He was also distinctly aware that he had just shown her up, again. So, he wasn't at all worried about making her mad. She was already as angry as he thought humanly possible and glared bloody murder at him.

He just shrugged. "You would have taken too long to get here. I had it." He was distinctly aware of the effect his words had on her, and in a moment of suicidal carelessness, he wondered if he could make that vein in her forehead pop out any more.

"Maybe next time don't try to get in my way." Using Astrid's own warning against her was a good way to make her mad.

'That might have been a bit too far' Toothless noted, worried Astrid might snap then and there. He could see the way her hand was gripping her ax so hard it was turning white from the strain.

Gobber had descended into the ring during this confrontation, and he didn't want Hiccup to lose his head in training, especially to a fellow trainee.

Hiccup was quite happy to see Gobber relieve Astrid of her ax from behind. Gobber then proceeded to lead Astrid away, saying something to her about her ax technique in the ring. She had no choice but to follow, especially when he still had her ax.

Hiccup came back to Earth after his bout of courage and realized what he had just done.

'Why did you do that?' Toothless wasn't mad, he had found it quite funny. Still, it was strange for Hiccup to intentionally taunt Astrid, especially when he was already making her mad through self-defense in the ring. And doubly so when she had her ax with her.

"I guess... if I'll be making her mad anyway... I figured I might as well do something to deserve it. Besides, she's starting to make me mad too. What am I doing that's offending her so personally? We're all supposed to do well here, at least in theory." He muttered all of this while staring in her direction. Gobber was still talking to her, but she was staring past him, directly at Hiccup. He didn't realize that she could see him talking to himself, because he was still mad and not thinking clearly.

'Maybe she doesn't like competition.'

Hiccup would have dismissed this because Astrid always had to compete with Snotlout, but he realized that if Snotlout was Astrid's closest competitor, then she really didn't ever have any competition. At least until now. Snotlout might have been the second best of the teens, but he was a ways below Astrid in pretty much every category except raw strength.

'In other news, remember what happened last time you made Astrid mad?' Toothless prompted him.

Hiccup got the hint and left the arena before Gobber finished talking to her. Gobber had already said that the next training session wasn't for another five days, on account of routine arena repairs. When you housed dragons, all moving parts they could reach needed to be serviced pretty often, to avoid potentially deadly problems. Hiccup figured he would spend that time like he spent all of his free time nowadays. Committing treason. Also known as hanging out with the Unholy Offspring of Lightning and Death Itself. It was going to be a great five days.


	9. Chapter 9

**_Author's Note:_** **My schedule is annoying, so a 48-hour early update this week, cool. That does, however, leave you with an 11-day wait for chapter 10. Oh well. And this isn't the greatest place for an extra-long wait between chapters.**

**Also, thank you to all of the positive reviews from guests, and of course logged-in members. If you commented with an account, I probably replied, but I am reduced to thanking guests here. Glad to see so much support. Rest assured, this story will continue pretty much no matter what, as is my policy.**

**And of course, a shout-out to Fizzlemcschnizzle, toothlessgolfer, and Stig92, all of whom have their own great stories going as of now, and have taken the time to leave reviews.**

**That being said, enjoy the slightly darker chapter.**

Hiccup flopped on the bank, utterly exhausted and quite annoyed with himself.

Toothless crawled out a few yards away and shook himself. He didn't bother to completely dry off, because this had to be the tenth time in the last hour they had crashed into this very pond.

Hiccup was progressing nicely, though slowly, with his stealth training. He still had trouble pulling off the new maneuvers while running, but his speed and endurance were still increasing. The main issue he had had, though, was with flying. Specifically, operating the tailfin. The design had mostly been finalized, with a pedal for his foot, made effective by a set of gears, and various other refinements to the saddle. It had been one of the few things Hiccup could do right in relation to flying these last five days. He had spent hours each day with Toothless in the air trying to learn the ways of maneuvering the tailfin.

Hiccup was beginning to see a pattern with his failures. There was too much else involved. He couldn't learn what each position did when Toothless was constantly needing to change his fin's position to stay above the cove pond. What he really needed was a way to keep Toothless still in midair so he could learn the fin positions without interruptions or distractions. But for now, they were done. Ten crashes a day was stretching the Fury's patience already, and Hiccup needed to think of a different way to learn this because it would take weeks at this rate.

"I think we're done for the day buddy."

At that admission, the Fury began his flame-drying run.

Hiccup headed to the already burning bonfire they had learned to set up before they started flying. It saved time, and neither of them had to wait to get dry. Hiccup sat down by the fire, in a spot that was unshaded by leaves, giving him the aid of the sun as well as the fire in warming up. He toyed idly with the small smithing hammer he had brought out to the cove after he had been forced to make the run to the village and back just to straighten a slightly bent rod. He figured it wouldn't be missed. As he fiddled with it, Toothless ambled towards him, intending to sit with him by the fire.

But something caught the dragon's attention. Instantly, his weariness was gone as he assumed a hunting crouch, ears up and eyes wide.

Hiccup started at the unexpected change in demeanor as Toothless pounced at something on the ground that had moved when Hiccup had. Hiccup was quick to realize that it was a spot of light reflecting off of the hammer. Toothless, on the other hand, was not. Hiccup had an entertaining few minutes, watching the unholy offspring of lightning and death itself... act like an overgrown kitten.

Eventually, Hiccup put the hammer away, and Toothless, after a few minutes of searching the ground where the light had disappeared, finally continued on his path to the fireside. 'Never can catch those things.'

Hiccup debated inwardly on whether or not to reveal the source of 'those things' to Toothless. He remembered that training was tomorrow. It was apparently going to be the Terrible Terror this time. He decided to let Toothless figure it out himself when he used it on the Terror in the arena.

The last five days had been good. That was mostly due to the fact that Hiccup had been free to avoid the village entirely. Spending entire days playing and training with Toothless in the cove had done wonders for his mood. The only sour point had been his flight troubles. Hiccup continued to brainstorm ways to practice flight effectively as he ran to the village that evening. Toothless had told him that he wanted Hiccup to start running at night until Hiccup had reminded him that no amount of training would give him night vision and that he needed his sleep. That suggestion reinforced the conviction Hiccup had that Toothless was training him the way he would a Night Fury. Not that he minded. Despite still having trouble reliably doing the harder things, which all seemed to be easier if he used all four limbs like a Night Fury would, Hiccup was still improving his skills overall and Toothless was starting to have trouble challenging him with naturally found obstacles in the forest without intentionally going some distance into the deepest parts, like where he had lost Astrid. Now that was an ironic statement. He had at some point in the last few days forgotten that Astrid likely wanted to end him in some slow and painful way. Not seeing her or really any other villager in almost five days had that effect. Hiccup would probably have slept in the cove if he hadn't been worried about someone noticing him missing for five days straight. Although, he would still have had to come back. Until he and Toothless could fly reliably, he was reliant on the village supplies to feed the voracious dragon.

But Hiccup needed to focus. How was he going to fly with Toothless without the constant distractions, and the consistent need to adjust to stay above the water? Hiccup was still thinking when he ran into the village. It had been a windy autumn (which for Berk just meant winter without snow or frozen water) day, and that wind had been messing with Hiccup and Toothless all day. Hiccup ran past a few of the village children. One of them had a very rudimentary kite, really just a piece of bent parchment and a string. Hiccup slowed to a stop and stared as the child kept the kite from going anywhere by holding the string, against the oncoming wind.

That was it! "Toothless, you seeing this?"

'Yeah, what about it?'

"That's how we'll stay in the air long enough for me to actually learn how the fin works. I can tether the saddle to the ground, out at one of the cliffs with constant wind."

'Will that really work?'

Hiccup began walking towards the Great Hall, to grab some food before he went home. "We'll just have to find out, won't we?"

Hiccup hadn't missed the arena.

Snotlout, on the other hand... "Ah, back in my place of past, present, and future glory! It's good to be back."

Tuffnut smiled, nudging his sister slyly. "What past glory would that be, Snotman?"

Ruffnut continued for him. "When you missed the Nadder from five feet away?"

"When the Gronckle knocked you halfway across the arena?"

"Whe-"

"Shut it!" Snotlout was getting embarrassed.

The twins snickered.

"Okay, maybe not past glory. But present and future glory will be mine!" At this Snotlout regained much of his bravado, though not all.

Hiccup was standing apart from the group of teens, content to let them argue without him. He was also a little interested to see if Astrid still hated him, after having five days to cool off. He didn't really think it mattered though. He was probably going to make her mad all over again in a few minutes. He made eye contact with her. She glared daggers at him. Yup, still hated. At least he checked.

'Are you really surprised?'

Hiccup didn't have to ask Toothless what he meant. "Nope."

'Are you going to tell me how you plan on dealing with the Terror at some point?' This was said with more than a hint of irritation. Hiccup had dropped a couple of hints that he had something planned, and Toothless had been spectating when Hiccup carefully chose and polished a shield from the armory before continuing to the arena that morning. He hated being left in suspense. "Why? You'll see in a few minutes anyway."

"Uh, Hiccup?" That had been Fishlegs.

Hiccup focused on what was happening around him. Nothing had changed, except Fishlegs was a little closer than he had been before, just a few feet away. "Yeah?"

"Who are you talking to? No one can hear you from here..."

Hiccup held in a curse as he realized that he had forgotten again about talking to Toothless when people could see. This was his first major slip up. Fishlegs definitely looked concerned. Hiccup tried to give a relaxed smile. "Oh, I was just... giving myself a pep talk. You know, before we face the dragon."

'That was pathetic. Sadly, I can't train you in lying convincingly.' Toothless was mocking him now, as they were both quite aware Hiccup couldn't respond. His way of paying Hiccup back for the secret-keeping, apparently.

Hiccup grimaced, holding in his retort until everyone was called together by Gobber, and he could speak unobserved. "Useless reptile."

'Pointless primate.'

Hiccup had to hold back a laugh. Even directed at him, that was a good retort.

"Alrighty, trainin' is back in session. We're gonna ease back in, with the Terrible Terror this week." Gobber wasn't even leaving the arena for this one. he waved his hook threateningly. "Don't underestimate 'im." He stepped back, and someone at the levers released the Terror.

Instead of the doors slamming open, like with every other dragon, a small hatch at the bottom of the doors, about two square feet in size, hung loosely. Something bolted out and sat on the floor in front of the group of teens.

Gobber laughed. "Meet the Terrible Terror!"

The dragon was the size of a small dog and was quite lizard-like in appearance. It stared at them and proceeded to lick its own eyeball.

Tuffnut laughed. "Hah! That thing's like the size of my-", which was as far as he got before the Terror silenced him by deciding his nose would make a nice chew toy.

Snotlout moved to assist Tuffnut, who was rolling around on the floor, Terror firmly attached to his nose, but Ruffnut stopped him. As long as her brother wasn't in mortal danger she was just going to enjoy the show.

Astrid however, had no problem barging past Ruff and kicking the Terror off of Tuff with one hard boot, and the sound they all heard when she did indicated that something had been broken.

They all assumed that it had been the Terror until they looked back at Tuff. It had been his nose. Before, the Terror hadn't even drawn blood. Now, his nose was swelling rapidly, and was quite clearly at an abnormal angle, pointed somewhat to the right. There was blood now, thanks to Astrid's foot.

Astrid didn't even stop long enough to say anything. She took a look at Tuffnut's nose and then moved to pursue the Terror, seemingly unconcerned.

Hiccup was horrified. The way Astrid was going, that Terror was going to be in big trouble in a few seconds.

'Are you going to do something?' Toothless sounded worried. He didn't know what Hiccup had up his sleeve, and he had a sinking feeling that he was about to watch a Terror die horribly. They might not have been as smart as the other dragon species, really the only species that could be truly considered animals, but they were still dragons. And he was about to watch one die, with no way to stop it. Again.

Toothless's question shocked Hiccup into action. He angled his shield to catch the sunlight and directed the light to a spot near the Terror.

It was no use. The dragon was still stunned from the blow to the head, and it was in no mood to chase a fun little light, hopefully away from Astrid and back into its cage before any harm could be done. The Terror completely ignored the light at its feet as it struggled to regain its footing. Its eyes were focused on Astrid, who was rapidly approaching with her ax.

Gobber had rushed to Tuffnut, dismissing the Terror as not a threat, and was apparently unaware that Astrid intended anything other than just knocking the dragon out. Hiccup wasn't sure if any of the other teens could tell either.

And so, he acted. He rushed to the Terror, hoping to get there and safely deal with it before Astrid could-

As Hiccup passed near Astrid, her hand shot out and grabbed him by the shoulder, her grip like iron. Without saying anything, she tightened her grip even further, and shoved him sideways forcefully, knocking him off of his feet. Then she spoke, as she crossed the remaining distance to the Terror. 'Not this time.'

Hiccup hadn't even managed to get to the Terror, but he was still holding onto one more tiny, minuscule hope. He had been totally prepared to kill a dragon he found helpless. He hadn't been able to do it. Maybe, just maybe, Astrid would have the same-.

Astrid had reached the Terror. She looked down at it for a moment, a heartbeat. Two. She swung.

Hiccup didn't have time to close his eyes. The sound wasn't something he would have ever wanted to hear, either. But he would remember both, in nightmares both in the following months and for the rest of his life.

Astrid turned from the growing pool of blood, her eyes proud and her ax coated in the stuff, literally dripping blood.

The few Vikings around the arena who had gathered to watch whispered to each other.

Hiccup had to focus solely on not throwing up.

Toothless was just as affected, as he had not had time to pull away from Hiccup's senses even if he had wanted to. He didn't even try to hold in his bile. In a cove in the middle of the forest, a dragon of a species feared by men above all others proceeded to stumble out of a cave and deposit the contents of his stomach all over the nearest bush.

The teens, who had been focused on Tuffnut's nose, flinched at the terrible sound of ax going through flesh and bone and impacting the wall and floor on the other side, mixed with that of the Terror yowling for half a second before being cut off. Gobber froze, and even Tuffnut didn't make a sound. That had been the moment Gobber was resetting Tuffnut's nose, but the sound so shocked Tuffnut that he didn't even whimper as his nose bone was shifted into place. The teens were all Vikings. They all grew up on tales of horrible monstrosities and the equally horrible wounds inflicted by either side of the dragon vs. human conflict. They had often talked about killing dragons and worked to one-up each other on how they would do it. All of them but Hiccup were in the fire brigade, but that was carefully kept from the real fighting. None of that could have prepared them for their first real introduction as to how wars were in reality. There was no glory, no righteous cause in that sound. There was no heat of battle to dull the senses, no bloodlust to cause loss of control in that deliberate action. This had been a straight-up execution. Right there. In a horrible fashion.

The teens looked up. Tuffnut sat up. They all stared first at Hiccup, who was sprawled a few feet away, staring at the side of the arena. His face was blank, but his shield was trembling. They followed his gaze. There was Astrid, walking towards them. Her ax was bloody, and she left small red marks as she walked away from the spreading pool. The spreading pool of blood and various half-digested fish, and stomach acid. All flowing from the two separate halves of the Terror, who had literally been cut in half.

There was no pride that could be found in this. The teens all knew this. Even Snotlout. Hiccup could see no source of pride in any of the war, but every teen in the arena could see nothing to be proud of here. Except, apparently, for Astrid. Who, after a few seconds of a totally blank face, began smiling a grim smile. Proud of what she had done. Maybe happy to finally have stopped Hiccup from interfering. Definitely happy with the fact that she just executed a dragon without a second thought, for the crimes of gnawing on Tuffnut's nose, having had the misfortune to be used for training, and most importantly just for being a dragon.

The Vikings in the stands were nonplussed. On the one hand, Astrid had killed a dragon. On the other, it was only a Terror, and it was a dragon they were supposed to have for training, and therefore not to be killed by trainees.

She walked over to Tuffnut, and for a moment her expression flickered to one of concern. "Are you okay?"

Tuffnut scowled. "I think I liked the Terror better. At least it didn't break my nose. You should have just left it there."

With that, Astrid's expression quickly shifted back to being entirely blank, with maybe just a hint of anger. "Killing dragons is why we're here. At any cost. Get used to it."

Gobber chose this moment to intervene. He was furious, and a little shocked at Astrid's lack of control. "Wha' did ye do tha' for? Ye know yer not supposed teh kill the trainin' dragons. Ye coulda jes' knocked it out." Now his tone was definitely all anger. "Yer going ta be comin' with me the day after tomorrer, ta find another Terror to replace the one ye jes' killed for no reason. The trip'll be by boat, and it'll take us three days ta get ta the neares' uninhabited island, trap a Terror, and head back. And ye won' be doin' any o' the trappin'. Yer jus' gonna be there ta waste yer time. Understood?"

Astrid's neutral expression held, mostly firm, with possibly a flicker of cold anger showing. "Am I still in dragon training?"

Gobber sighed. "Yes."

"Do I still have a shot at the Nightmare?"

Gobber nodded. "Aye, technically et's supposed ta be yer first dragon kill, bu' no one cares if it isn't really. Else half the winners o' trainin' woulda been disqualified."

Astrid resumed her grim smile. "Understood."

Gobber looked at the likely traumatized group of teens. "I'll see ye all... well, we were gonna work with the Terror this week bu' ... I guess this time nex' week."

No one argued, though Astrid almost looked like she wanted to.

Gobber left the arena to get some cleaning supplies, and the spectators quickly departed. Astrid stayed for a few moments and then left too. The teens were alone in the arena, with the two separate halves of a Terror.

Toothless hadn't returned to Hiccup's senses, and Hiccup envied his ability to instantly flee to the cove. He listened to the teens converse in hushed tones.

Ruffnut spoke first. "Geez. She totally wasted it."

Tuffnut was the next to speak, with a nasal voice due to his injury. "Yeah..."

Snotlout spoke up to defend her, but he obviously didn't entirely believe what he was saying. "She was just, uh, avenging Tuff's nose. You know, thrill of battle, all that..."

Fishlegs scoffed. "Avenging Tuff's nose? She broke his nose. The Terror didn't even break the skin."

"Hey, she was just acting on instinct. That stuff happens in the heat of battle." Snotlout seemed to be trying to convince himself.

Hiccup decided to tell what he had seen. "There was nothing 'heat of battle' about that. I could see it in her eyes the entire time. There was no rage, no anger, no clouded judgment. She broke Tuff's nose, walked over calmly, killed it, and walked away just as calmly. She didn't even stop to check on Tuffnut until after, and she didn't really care even then."

The other teens all looked at Hiccup. Aside from what he was saying, which they were finding hard to believe, they could hear something else in his tone. It had been no secret that Hiccup had had a crush on Astrid since pretty much forever, as evidenced by the way he would always talk about her. Even when he was intentionally taunting her that last time in the arena (which they all found really weird for Hiccup to do), it could be heard. Not anymore. Now there was nothing but controlled anger, and a hint of something they couldn't identify.

It was Snotlout who next spoke. "Everyone always says she's gonna be the best dragon-killer of our generation. Guess she just proved it..." He left the arena.

Fishlegs went with Tuffnut to the healer's hut. Hiccup and Ruffnut were the only ones left.

Ruffnut looked anxious to be with her brother, but she spared Hiccup a glance. "Are you alright? You don't look so-."

He turned towards her. "I'm fine. Go catch up to Tuffnut." Ruffnut didn't leave. Hiccup figured she didn't want to leave him here alone. "Go."

She left. Hiccup was alone for the few brief moments before Gobber returned with the cleaning supplies, most likely a bucket of sawdust, a shovel, and a few Vikings who owed him a favor.

Hiccup wanted nothing more than to leave, but there was something he had to do. He forced himself to move to the Terror and knelt by the body, careful not to get any blood on his shoes as he didn't want anyone wondering about his footprints. He closed the Terror's bulging eyes, got up, and forced himself to walk through the village to the outskirts of the forest. Then he let himself run.

He ran as fast as he could go without Toothless's guidance. He used everything the dragon had ever had him try, even the things he was still learning. He didn't care if he failed and fell to the ground, he would just pick himself up and keep going. But he didn't fail, didn't fall. In an extremely ironic turn of events, the very helpless rage that made him want to get hurt, want to fail like he failed to help that Terror, that same rage kept him going, pushing more than enough energy into every reckless move to make them all. He had been subconsciously holding back out of fear of hurting himself before now. That was gone for the moment, and Hiccup ran perfectly, well enough to make Toothless proud beyond words, if he would have tuned in to see it. Hiccup didn't care about what he was doing. He just wanted to get to the cove. To the only person in the world who really knew the whole story, who could emphasize. The only person who understood, and who was probably just as upset as he was.

He made it to the cove in what would have been record time, if he had cared enough to notice. He didn't stop running when he entered the cove, instead heading directly to the cave Toothless resided in when he was spectating through Hiccup's senses, to avoid accidental detection. He avoided the pool of vomit and rushed inside. The dragon was huddled in a corner, and something he saw there made Hiccup stop.

He hadn't known if dragons could cry, but this was new. They didn't cry tears of water and salt. Instead, Toothless had thick plumes of smoke coming out of his nose. There was a substantial cloud in that section of the cave. Hiccup could see the Fury's nose glowing a faint blue as if he could see the fire from here.

"Toothless?" He had been expecting his friend to be unhappy, but this seemed like something of an overreaction.

'Just another Terror.' Toothless was speaking softly, not moving from his huddled position.

"What?"

'Just another Terror. At least this one died quickly, and not by my claws and fire. But I still remember the others. All of them.' He moaned. 'I can't stop remembering them.'

And that explained it. Hiccup knew the Queen had killed many Terrors using Toothless, and now his friend was reliving every single one of those deaths.

Hiccup had found the one thing that could make him forget his own grief, at least for a moment. The need to help a friend deal with his own, which was so much worse. Hiccup moved over to beside Toothless, next to his neck, and hugged him from behind. The dragon was curled up on his side, so the best Hiccup could do was to hug the back of his neck. The dragon stiffened, then relaxed slightly.

"You don't need to suffer alone. At least talk about it." He didn't want to hear about how the Queen killed countless dragons, but if it would help Toothless cope, he would listen.

And Toothless did, haltingly at first, but never stopping completely. Hiccup listened as Toothless recounted the deaths of every single Terror he could remember, a list numbering somewhere near a hundred dragons in total. Each one with a more brutal death than the last. When Toothless had finished his list, he said something that would stick in Hiccup's mind for a long time.

'Astrid and the Queen are the same. They execute Terrors for fun.'

There was nothing Hiccup could say to that. Because it felt true. Astrid certainly hadn't killed the Terror in self-defense, or out of necessity. And the parallel was interesting. Both Astrid and the Queen could have just knocked the Terrors out. In both cases, that would have worked just as well, if not better. But they chose death instead, for no apparent reason except they wanted to kill.

Eventually, he fell asleep by his friend's side, defeated by exhaustion and trauma. Toothless had the presence of mind to cover him with his wing, and fell asleep too. Neither of them woke up for a long time.


	10. Chapter 10

**_Author's Note:_ ** **Well, another Thursday update. And I know for a fact I'll have to post #12 on a Thursday. So consider the schedule shifted to Thursdays permanently at this point.**

When Hiccup woke up the next morning, he had a bit of a hard time remembering where he was. His first clue was the black wing folded over him like a blanket. His second was the stone roof directly above him. So, a cave, but the only one in the cove...

And then it all came back. The events in the arena, what Astrid had done, how she was proud of it, closing the Terror's eyes, running back here. His mind stopped at that memory. Turned it over. Reexamined it. Wow, he had really been out of it. Putting everything he had into running at top speed, into the hardest stuff Toothless had shown him, the things he was sure would really only work for Night Furies. And he had done all of it flawlessly. He would have dismissed that specific memory as a dream or hallucination, but how else could he have made it to the cove so fast. Maybe Toothless hadn't been crazy after all to suggest all this running, rolling, vaulting, and other seemingly random stunts. He used them yesterday and did them well. Could he still do them so well now?. He would have to test it later.

Then Hiccup remembered what came after his sprint to the cove. Learning how dragons cried, helping Toothless deal with the memories, apparently falling asleep at some point afterward.

He got up and left the cave. Toothless was still curled up into a ball behind him, wing still awkwardly outstretched, the only part of the Night Fury that wasn't curled inward. He checked the sky. It was mid-morning. He returned to the cave and leaned against Toothless's back. He would wait until the dragon woke up.

Toothless ended up waking up around noon. He seemed to have recovered from his unwanted memories and the sights of the day before, though he was silent for the first few minutes. Eventually, he spoke. 'You did all that you could.'

That wasn't exactly how Hiccup had wanted to start this conversation, but he supposed it cut to the point. "You mean, I failed miserably. She didn't even have to try to stop me. She just shoved me aside and kept walking."

Toothless snorted. They were sitting face to face, Toothless laying down so that his eyes were level with Hiccup's, who was sitting cross-legged in front of him. 'No, I mean it. You tried, and we're lucky she didn't do any worse to you than that. There really wasn't anything else you could have done.'

Hiccup thought about it. "Well, I could have said something to her instead of just trying to get to the Terror first."

'Fat chance she'd listen to anyone, and no way in a thousand years would she have listened to you.'

"She might have listened to Gobber."

'Who had no idea what was going on, and was dealing with Tuffnut. There was no way you could get his attention, get him to listen, and get him to understand in time to do anything.'

Hiccup shrugged. "I could have... maybe thrown my shield instead?" He was really scraping the bottom of the barrel here.

'Even if your aim was accurate, and you put enough power behind it, I don't think you could have knocked her or the Terror out. And she probably would have killed you and the Terror after that. So, what would have worked?'

Hiccup saw what Toothless was showing him, and it did make him feel a bit better about the role he played in the event. "Nothing."

Toothless nodded. 'So you don't get to feel guilty about it. You can be sad and angry, but you don't get to be guilty.'

That did make Hiccup feel better. His turn. "By that logic, neither do you. About that Terror, or any the Queen killed using you. I won't blame myself if you don't."

Toothless hesitated, then attempted his version of a smile. 'Deal.'

Hiccup relaxed.

'Oh no, we aren't done here yet.'

Hiccup slumped. Darn perceptive dragon.

'I think, in the future, it would be wise not to antagonize Astrid.'

Hiccup had been expecting something like this, given the dragon's protective nature. "Not without a good reason. But I refuse to let her kill any more dragons in the arena, and stopping her will make her mad, just like it has been. I draw the line there."

'What will you do when she gets out into raids?'

Hiccup sighed. "That's different. She would be fighting in self-defense. I still hate it, but the guilty party there isn't Astrid. It's the Queen."

Toothless sighed in unintentional imitation of Hiccup, only deeper. 'You want to do something about her, don't you.' He wasn't exactly reluctant, but he knew the risks, and he knew how difficult it would be to even get close. 'If we do something about her, the hardest part will be me getting close enough without being enslaved again.'

Hiccup nodded. "Right. How does that work again?"

'To enslave a free dragon, the Queen has to look them in the eyes. Usually, she has already enslaved dragons bring new ones in. Once enslaved, she either has to release you, or you have to get knocked out. Although, it is an extension of her concentration, so if we threaten her actual body... it MIGHT set all the dragons free. Emphasis on might. She would need to feel threatened enough to concentrate fully on defending herself. Basically, she has to believe she will die if she doesn't destroy us right away, personally. And if we manage that...'

Hiccup understood. "We have a fully enraged Queen on our tail, and at no point can you look her in the eyes. Not that bad."

'I don't even know where to start.' Toothless moaned, discouraged.

"I do."

'What?' Toothless was puzzled but very hopeful. Hiccup had sounded so sure of himself, and he had been impressed by his ideas before.

"The whole 'can't look at the eyes thing'. I bet it doesn't count if I look at her. So, you can just use my sense of sight, and fly blindfolded!"

Toothless liked that. 'Can the blindfold be red?'

"Uh, sure, why not? Alright, first problem down. Next up, we need to actually be able to fly. I had an idea for that, before the whole deal in the arena."

Toothless remembered that. 'The thing on a string, right.'

Hiccup laughed. "The thing on the end of the string is gonna be us. It'll keep us in place, so you can stay in the air with the tail still, and I can learn what each position does without constant interruptions via crashing. We just need to go somewhere that has a steady wind."

'I assume you know a place.'

"Yup."

'I'm not sure I like this.'

They had set up on the edge of the cliff. Ironically enough, it was the same dead-end cliff Hiccup had almost run off of when he was being chased by Astrid. It had the wind they needed, and it was pretty private, even compared to the rest of the forest. Being on the far side of the island from the village, the waters should be clear of boats coming and going and the forest should be free of anyone wandering aimlessly. So now, instead of not running off, they would be not flying off.

Toothless was persistent if nothing else. 'What if the rope breaks?'

"We'll just be pushed back a bit. You're way too big to be moved any more than that."

'I'm not sure you understand how this works. Are you certain about that?''

"Yeah. well, probably. Maybe. Look, the rope won't break, because you won't be putting your full weight on it." Hiccup tugged the rope to emphasize this.

'Fine. Let's just test it already.' Toothless crouched. He was in full gear, and Hiccup was already on his back. Toothless was tethered to a strong pole that Hiccup had had him drive into the ground near the edge of the cliff.

Hiccup, in addition to his normal attire for flying, had a charcoal pencil and a piece of parchment. He wanted to take notes, so they would only have to test each position once.

The next few minutes were perfect for Hiccup to test in. With the ability to hang above the ground without any fear of falling, Hiccup could test what the tailfin positions did without Toothless also having to adjust everything else to compensate. He was gradually coming to understand what each position did, and noting this information down for future reference.

Toothless was bored. He passed the time spent hovering by trying his hardest to remember specifics about his time in the nest. Simple things, like his own name. It galled him that he could perfectly remember the scores of Terrors dead by his claws, but not the face or name of the other Night Fury.

Hiccup had just finished testing the fifth position. This one seemed designed to lose altitude, as that was what happened every time he set the tailfin to this position. The interesting part was what happened when Toothless did not instinctually mimic it with his real tailfin. That seemed to be how a sharp turn and drop was achieved when only one of the tailfins was put in this position. Hiccup sighed. This was complex, it was no wonder he hadn't been able to get it earlier in his sporadic, short, and hectic flights over the cove. At least now he knew how complex it was. He brought them back into the air and tried the sixth and last position for the first time.

Toothless instinctively reacted to the change in airflow around his artificial tailfin, as always. The problem was, Hiccup would discover in later experiments, this position was used for stalling in midair, and for stopping forward momentum. Toothless's instinctive reaction was to curve up and forward, spreading his wings perpendicular to the oncoming wind. Thereby increasing the drag that the poor, slender rope had to withstand by a thousandfold.

The rope snapped, and Toothless and Hiccup were sent tumbling backward. Luckily, there were no trees behind them because of the way the terrain was laid out. Unluckily, Toothless's head had swung out to the right as his body was contorted by the winds, and his skull clipped a tree as they went tumbling past. All went dark.

Hiccup crawled out from under Toothless's wing, only to find that he couldn't go very far. The safety clip that held him on in flight was bent double, effectively locking Hiccup to Toothless. He was more worried about the dragon in question. He wasn't moving. That wasn't even the worst part. The link between them, that pocket of foreign senses in the corner of his head, was gone. Hiccup couldn't even tell if Toothless was breathing. He tried not to panic as he watched Toothless's sides, praying for them to move. If Toothless was dead, it would be all his fault. He had suggested this stupid idea, and the rope hadn't held like he said it would.

He saw movement.

Toothless's sides moved in and out, slowly but regularly. Hiccup resumed breathing as well. Now he just had to wait. Twenty minutes later, he heard a groan. Toothless opened one eye. Hiccup leaned over to stare into it. "You alright buddy?"

The dragon shook his head and then winced, whether in answer or just to clear it Hiccup didn't know. He slowly put his hand on Toothless's head, hoping his friend would understand what he was asking.

He did, and after a few moments, Toothless recreated the link.

This time it didn't hurt. Instead, Hiccup felt only relief. He was still worried about Toothless's head. He remembered some questions he had been asked after falling out of a window... headfirst. They were supposed to determine if he had any head injuries that couldn't be seen. "Hey, listen. How many fingers am I holding up?"

Hiccup held up three fingers. A long moment later, he got a reply.

'Three.'

"Good, good. Um..." What were the other ones? "Where are we right now?"

The answer came faster this time. 'Berk, hopefully still on that stupid cliff.'

"Great. Uh, what is your name?" Hiccup immediately felt awful, that was a terrible question to ask, of course he couldn't-

'Svarturkappi.'

Wait, what? "Toothless, say that again?"

'Svarturkappi. I have a few names. Svarturkappi, Kappi, or just Cap for my family, because long names are a pain. Except for you, you are a friend but you call me Toothless, because...' The Fury tried to bolt upright, but he was dizzy and only managed to jerk somewhat to the left and upright before collapsing again. In the process, he yanked Hiccup with him, because they were stuck together for the moment. Toothless repeatedly shook his head, trying to clear it. His voice rose as he spoke, conveying his excitement. '...because I couldn't remember my names or any other specifics from the nest. Because the Queen told us to forget! I was trying to remember anything at all, like...' His face fell. Literally and figuratively as he slumped to the ground.

Hiccup felt like Toothless had remembered something else important. "Like what?"

Toothless moaned in anguish. 'Like who the other Night Fury is, the one still a slave to the Queen.'

"Who is it?" Hiccup could tell this wasn't going to be good.

'Her name is Svarturkló.'

Hiccup had a guess. "Your mate?"

Did Toothless have a mate? It would explain why he was so clearly unhappy if she was still enslaved. He wasn't sure what could be worse than-

'No. My mother.'

Well, that just might be worse.

'My mother is still enslaved to that monster.' That was ominously neutral in tone. Toothless was beginning to quiver slightly. 'My mother is being used as a tool of murder and destruction, put into danger at a whim by a tyrant.' That was definitely on the 'Rage' side of angry in tone.

Hiccup had to consider the possibility his friend was about to do something they would both regret, like trying to fly to the nest with half a tail and no plan, or some other self-destructive act.

'MY MOTHER IS-' Toothless cut off his latest roar as he noticed something.

Hiccup had reached the pressure point and was barely touching it.

'Don't even think about it.` Toothless was growling now, a deep vibration Hiccup could feel in his bones as well as hear.

"If you don't calm down, I will make you." Hiccup was deadly serious. And Toothless knew it. They both also knew that if Toothless wanted to, he could tear Hiccup apart before he did anything. Hiccup was trusting that his friend's better side would prevent that.

And it did. Toothless forced himself to calm down, at least somewhat. Which really only meant he restrained himself to growling, instead of anything more. 'We need to do something.'

"And we will, as soon as we have a plan and are ready. A good plan, not something we make up on the way there."

'We need to go NOW.' Toothless shook Hiccup's hand away.

"No."

Toothless snapped his teeth out, baring them in a violent snarl. 'She is still there! We spent fifteen years in that hellhole, my entire life, and I, by some stroke of good luck was set free, but I. LEFT. HER. THERE. We need to GO.'

"I understand, but it couldn't be helped. You didn't even remember she was there until now, and we still can't fly well enough to even get there, let alone challenge and defeat the Queen! You need to calm down and think before you act."

You don't understand! My mother is trapped and enslaved by a monster. You don't understand that I would do ANYTHING to get her free.' Toothless abruptly flared his wings, crouching angrily.

That struck a nerve Toothless hadn't known existed until now. "I understand far better than you know."

The venom in Hiccup's voice gave Toothless pause, but his anger pushed him forward. 'Do you?!'

"Yes."

'Then you-'

"At least you still have a chance to save her if you'd stop and think! My mother was taken by a massive four-winged dragon when I was a baby, grabbed out of our house during a raid. I never got that chance."

Toothless was shocked into silence by the vehement anger in Hiccup's voice.

Hiccup continued just as angrily, shifting to look Toothless right in the eye. "I've grown up hearing stories about the quests my father undertook to try and get her back. Everyone talks about how driven he was, how stubborn he was, how he searched for years. Do you know what you both have in common right now?"

Toothless tried to object but Hiccup cut right over him, still speaking forcefully.

"You have no plan, same as him. That first quest was launched the day after her abduction. If my father had stopped to think, to come up with a plan, I might still have a mother today. Looking at what happened, I have a pretty good idea of what he should have done. He should have asked around, found out what kind of dragon took her. He might have realized it wasn't native to our area, had only been spotted in the North. I don't know if he knows that even now. I know because I asked trader Johann, who travels. I do know that he went in search of the nest, the one she clearly wouldn't have been taken to. I know he searched for months. Months my mother didn't have. He didn't stop searching after that, but by then it was probably too late."

At that Toothless slumped, struck by the futility of what Hiccup was describing, the horrible sense of hopelessness inherent in that scenario.

But Hiccup wasn't done. "So excuse me if I don't want my only friend to make the same mistake. Especially when I can do something about it. My dad still doesn't know or admit to himself that he could have done better. He's too stubborn. But you? If you survived having no plan and lost your only chance to get her back, you would know. And it would probably kill you inside. Assuming you didn't just die in the attempt, because you went in without taking the time to make sure you even had a chance."

The anger had faded from Hiccup's voice by the end of his speech, and all that was left was a numbing sadness.

Toothless knew that Hiccup was right. He hated to admit that he had to leave her there, even for a little while longer, but Hiccup was right. And Toothless knew he had been a jerk, regardless of any extenuating circumstances. 'Hiccup, I'm-'

"Sorry, I know. Don't be. I know that you couldn't think straight. If that was what it took to get you back to sanity, it was worth it."

'It shames me to admit it, but we do need to wait. You are right, we need a plan. And experience flying as a team. Only then will we go.'

"Good. Now, another important question." Hiccup had thought of something else he needed to know.

'Yes?'

"What do you want me to call you now? You apparently have three different names, four if you count Toothless. Which do you prefer I use?"

Toothless thought about it. He explained his reasoning. 'Well, Svarturkappi is my full family name. Svartur is the family name. Kappi is my shortened name. Cap is what I would go by with friends if I had any. But... I like Toothless. It's a reminder of everything good that's happened since you shot me down. Starting with that, really, even if I did lose a tailfin. So, please just call me Toothless.'

Hiccup was more than happy with that. He was also ecstatic that his friend remembered everything, even if it did add urgency to their taking down the Queen, something he still didn't really know how they were going to do. Besides, he was eventually going to have told Toothless about his mother anyway. Not how he would have planned on doing it, but it helped him talk sense into the upset dragon, so at least it helped. Now, for the other current problem...

At that moment, Toothless decided to stand. Because Hiccup had sat down at some point, the tether between the two was already taut. The result of this was that Toothless wondered for a second where Hiccup had gotten the sudden upper-body strength to do a handstand. Then he understood, and slowly sat back down, so as to not drop Hiccup. That was embarrassing for both parties.

"I'm stuck to you, at least until I can unbend this." Hiccup put all of his strength into the task, accomplishing exactly nothing.

'How do we do that?'

"I can't do it here, I need to go to the forge. There are tools that can do it there."

'We can go together.'

"Oh, alright. Sure."

Hiccup had to ride Toothless, which disappointed him somewhat. One of these days, he wanted to run through the forest at speed with Toothless, to see just how good his teacher was.

Toothless wanted to as well, and they decided they would definitely have to at some point. Because he had a rider, Toothless couldn't go at top speed. Not that it mattered, because they had decided to wait until dark to enter the village itself. Dark meant it would be easier to hide a dragon, especially a Night Fury. They might not have been thinking entirely clearly, but they were still somewhat cautious.

After nightfall, Hiccup led the Night Fury through the village. Well, Hiccup technically didn't have to lead, given how Toothless had seen the forge and the surrounding area a dozen times through Hiccup's eyes. But it was safer to have a human in front, in case someone walked towards them. Toothless might have been far more curious about his surroundings, but he had seen all of this before. So, he quietly followed Hiccup, hiding as best he could. He and Hiccup made it to the forge without incident.

But someone had seen Hiccup, if not the black dragon, enter the forge. "Hiccup? Are you in there?"

These words made both Hiccup and Toothless freeze. Hiccup mainly in fear with a bit of anger, and Toothless mainly in anger, with a bit of fear. Hiccup threw on an apron to cover the flight harness and stepped out of the saloon-style doors quickly, to prevent Astrid coming in after him and seeing Toothless. He faced Astrid, who had her ax with her.

Inside the forge, Toothless was completely still. Inside Hiccup's head, he was anything but quiet. 'Ok, so we can't run, you can't hide. She's armed and has proven she can kill in cold blood. And she hates you. The only thing we have going for us is that she doesn't know I exist. On the count of three, I'll jump her. You grab her ax on two. One...'

Hiccup had to speak up, even if that plan probably was their best chance of surviving this encounter. "Hi, Astrid. Hi AstridHIASTRID." As he said this, Hiccup was freaking out. He had to stop Toothless's countdown before he leaped out. "No don't yet" was all he could manage in a near-silent whisper, hoping Astrid didn't see or hear anything strange in the moonlight.

'Okay, I'll jump her if you grab her ax. Try to talk us out of here first.'

Hiccup wanted to collapse in relief, but he still had to get away from Astrid. Or, grab her ax and let Toothless deal with her. It was a somewhat tempting solution, especially if he considered what she had done in the arena, but it wouldn't end well in the long run. He had to figure out why she was here. If it was to attack him, then she could have fun dealing with the enraged Night Fury literally at the end of his tether.

"Relax. I'm not here to hurt you." Her words were soothing, but her tone of voice and posture added an undertone. It said; "I will end you if you do anything to make me mad." All in all, a mixed message.

Hiccup knew which version he believed. "So, then why are you here… in the middle of the night?"

"To warn you. I won't lose dragon training. I can't. You're the only one even close to capable of threatening my chance of winning, however you're doing it. So you need to be careful. Don't try to win. Then I won't have to stop you. That works out better for you." Her words were delivered with confidence, the meaning clear.

"Let me get this straight. I let you win, or you… what, beat me up? That seems more of Snotout's area of expertise. And I don't see you as the outsourcing type." Hiccup smirked.

Her voice was acid, her eyes ice. "If you somehow beat me in training, I'll wait to see how you do against the Nightmare. If it kills you, I won't have to do anything. But if you kill it, you become the undisputed best in our generation. My family honor will be slighted. I'll cut you in two, just like that Terror."

Hiccup was pretty sure that family honor wasn't supposed to work like that.

But the wind had just shifted, and Toothless caught something. 'Hiccup, I think she might be a little insane. I can smell just a hint of it. I couldn't before, not through your senses, but now I can with either of ours. If she was on the edge before, killing that Terror must have pushed her over. She is actually crazy.'

That terrified Hiccup. Before, angry Astrid was at the very least predictable. Now...

Hiccup actually had a bit of practice dealing with the insane. The son of the chief of another tribe, Dagur, was certifiably nuts. Which was actually appropriate, given his tribe was the Berserkers. Hiccup had to interact with him every couple of years. In his unpleasant interactions with Dagur, he had learned that there were a few different kinds of crazy. There was the normal crazy, which was easy to recognize if not to deal with. That wasn't Dagur. Dagur was paranoid and obsessed with violence. The really crazy side only came out if he was thwarted. Hiccup was going to have to assume Astrid would be the same, given she wasn't acting crazy. Which meant that for now, she wouldn't be much different. Cross her, or get in the way of whatever obsession she had, and he would see just how crazy she could get. At least with Dagur, Hiccup only had to deal with him once every few years. Astrid, he shared an island with. "Uh, sure, no problem. Have fun being the best, I'm totally good with second place."

Astrid smiled. She said nothing and walked away. Hiccup was just about to sigh when she spun. Glared at him. And then smiled again. "Don't forget!" She yelled as if it had been a friendly reminder. Then she continued walking. She was gone for good this time.

Hiccup wasted no time. He bolted inside the forge and pried the bent metal loose with the tool he had come here to get. As soon as he was done he and Toothless ran as fast as they could out of the village. It was pitch black, so Hiccup rode Toothless on the way back to the cove. He was shivering, not from cold, but from fear. Things on Berk were going to be way more difficult now. "So, just how insane is she?" Hiccup was only slightly relieved by the answer to this.

'Only a little right now. Probably not enough to be noticeable unless you know what to look for.'

"Great. But it's probably going to get worse over time, and way worse if she's under stress. You know, like the stress of being shown up in dragon training. Right now, I would be willing to bet she's fixated on that. Being the best. Bud, I think no matter what I do, she's gonna get worse. Quickly."

'Then don't try and avoid it.'

Hiccup brightened. "Actually, we need to do exactly that. Look, if I just let her win…" His face fell as he thought that through. " No. I can't."

'Why?'

"We both know why. I won't let her kill that Nightmare."

'But if you win, you have to. No matter what, someone has to.'

"Yup. I'll have to figure something out." Hiccup sighed. "I could almost wish we had just-" He stopped.

'Hiccup?' Toothless wasn't sure what the problem was. He crooned inquisitively.

"Toothless, why didn't we just have you flame the tether? Or even just bite it?" Hiccup looked down. "For Thor's sake, I could have just taken my belt off, or the saddle! What were we thinking?"

Toothless considered that. 'I don't know. But I had just hit my head. Maybe the better question is, what were you thinking?'

Hiccup shrugged. "I guess I didn't really think about it." He laughed. "Ironic, given the whole speech I had just given about thinking before you act."

Toothless chortled, swiping his tail at Hiccup playfully.

"Hey!" Hiccup narrowly dodged the tailfin aimed at his legs. "We have better things to do than play 'Trip the Human'." He made eye contact with Toothless. "We need to learn to fly. Like, really fly. We'll do it tomorrow."

Toothless felt like bouncing around the cove, no matter if it was the middle of the night! 'You're ready to try?'

Hiccup smiled. "Yup, got my cheat sheet done right before the accident. We'll do it tomorrow. For now, though, I guess I'll have to sleep here. If you don't mind, of course."

Toothless chuffed. 'Not an issue. You might be cold though.'

"Can I borrow your wing again?"

'I have a better idea.' Instead of extending a wing out over his back, Toothless extended a wing out to the side. As he was curled around that side, this time his wing was resting on the end of his tail, creating almost a sheltered tent a few inches off the ground.

Hiccup crawled underneath it, grateful for the extra space this arrangement provided. Only his head was visible from the outside. He discovered that in this arrangement, heat from the tail making up the 'side' of the flat tent was collected in the space, warming it. "Perfect."

'I thought so.'

Hiccup smiled. Tomorrow. Tomorrow they would finally fly and have a way off this island if things went bad.

**_Random Side Note:_ ** **The names are indeed words in another language. And sometimes (not always) they might be important. But there's no need to look them up. It won't help. If the reader needs to know what a name means, it will be revealed through the story. And if you do look them up anyway, beware of red herrings. If you fall for any, you can give them to Toothless later. I'm assured he likes them.**

**On a completely unrelated note, this has been a really weird week. One unexpected Httyd-related experience might be a coincidence, but two in the same week is stretching it. Not only did I walk into work to hear the song that plays on the HTTYD3 trailer on the radio (and I'd never heard it before on the radio at all, along with the fact that the radio is usually playing music of a very different genre), but that same week I was in Blacksburg, Virginia. And there we went to a disc golf course that turned out to be set in a forest that was basically the image I hold in my head of what Berk's wilderness looks like. Super vertical terrain, steep slopes, random unstable boulders, tangled undergrowth, everything. All it was missing was the draconic presence and evergreen trees instead of oak trees. It was actually unnervingly similar. And then, of course, ten minutes in we get hit with a massive storm. It even had the bad weather! And getting out of there during a torrential downpour was actually a dangerous endeavor.**


	11. Chapter 11

**_Author's Note:_ ** **An especially big thanks to Fizzlemcschnizzle for betaing this chapter in particular. The first half was a mess. And of course, thank you as always to reviewers, favorite-ers, and followers. I especially like any predictions as to where the story is going. It helps me gauge how subtle or obvious my writing is.**

"Let's take this nice and slow..." Hiccup was nervous. They were flying, just gliding right now, over the ocean around the back side of Berk. No one to see them. Perfect weather. If something went wrong, it was almost certain to be his fault.

'I'm a Night Fury, what do you mean by slow?'

"Very funny. Just don't go top speed right off."

They slowly worked through some simple turns. Hiccup could see what he needed to do by looking at his cheat sheet. After some successful turns, Toothless gradually put Hiccup into faster and faster changes in tail position. He was keeping up, though he had to take time to think about what position was needed. They soared lower, under a large sea stack that naturally formed an arch, like a lot of the sea stacks in the area. Speaking of which... Hiccup hadn't been looking where they were going, and Toothless had to alert him to the fact that they were flying straight at the side of another arch.

'Watch out!'

"Sorry."

'No, I mean right now!'

"That was my fault." They had just bounced off of not one but two separate sea stacks in rapid succession, the first time because Hiccup wasn't been paying attention, and the second time because he was looking at his cheat sheet. As necessary as it was, Hiccup couldn't wait to have it memorized so he wouldn't have to look down. Toothless slapped him with his ear as payback. "Yeah, yeah, I'm on it."

They angled upwards, towards the clouds. Toothless pumped his wings harder than before, and they soared high, almost but not quite angled straight up.

"Oh, this is amazing. The wind in my..." Hiccup looked down- well, forward, given the angle they were at- and noticed at that moment his cheat sheet ripping loose. "...Cheat sheet! Stop!"

Toothless listened and responded without thought. The abrupt lack of forward momentum didn't carry over to the passenger of the Night Fury, who floated off of Toothless at the apex of their climb. And they both plummeted downwards. Separately.

Toothless was panicking.

Hiccup was also near panic, but he knew he needed to get back to the saddle to work the tailfin. He tried to angle himself towards the dragon but was knocked back by his flailing wings. Twice.

"Toothless, you've gotta angle yourself!" Hiccup saw an opening, and he leaned face first towards the saddle. They were almost out of time. He grabbed onto the saddle, hauled himself down into it, and slammed his foot into the pedal to open the tailfin to its fullest. They abruptly reoriented, skimming just over the trees of the mountainside forest, but they weren't slowing down, just turning the downward drop into an insane forward speed.

It was all they could do to fly straight and avoid crashing, but they quickly found themselves entering the most complex maze of sea stacks he had ever seen. He couldn't even see the far side from here. He looked down at the cheat sheet grasped in his whitened fingers, but the high wind from the breakneck speed made the madly fluttering thing impossible to read. He only had one idea now, and it didn't involve the cheat sheet. He let it go and accessed Toothless's perception. Because they were in so similar in view right now, it felt as if his eyes were expanding, his vision sharpening as he switched over. He was still looking at death quickly approaching, but sight wasn't what he was going for.

Like before he could vaguely feel Toothless's limbs, the extensions of his body. He couldn't control them, but in this state, he was aware of them in a different way. And that included the small stubs that were all that remained of Toothless's tailfin. Later he would ask about that, and Toothless would explain that sometimes he could feel the tailfin as if it was still there and that sometimes it hurt for no reason. Right now, he was focusing on how the now disconnected muscles twitched in response to what Toothless needed the tailfin to do. He concentrated entirely on this and ignored all of the carefully sorted information he had been memorizing. That was how flight worked in theory. In reality, all he needed to know was how moving his foot moved the tailfin. Toothless's instincts could take care of the rest, and he would let that guide him.

This was all done and realized in the few seconds before they entered the stone deathtrap.

Toothless began the horribly fast and complex maneuvers that were their only chance, but he fully expected to crash. No matter how smart Hiccup was, their combined reaction time was too slow. But somehow now they weren't. Through all the hairpin turns and dives through narrow crags, Toothless could feel the effects of his missing left tailfin responding as if he was controlling it himself. He even stopped telling Hiccup what they would be doing like he had been up until now in their less crazy maneuvers. There was no way Hiccup was reacting to what he had been saying, the tail moved in response before he could even call out the instructions for Hiccup to follow. He was entirely happy with this at the moment because it meant they could spiral, dive, and jackknife their way through the maze of pillars without splattering on a sea stack. They turned once more, and after almost a full thirty seconds of hurtling through the maze, they emerged from the pillars in one piece.

Toothless roared along with his rider and let out a celebratory fireball that exploded in front of him and expanded vibrantly, fading as it went. He realized at the last second that only one of them was covered in scales and instinctively flipped his tailfins up. He dropped, and they narrowly avoided the fire. Then he took a second to review what he had just done. He had instinctively moved both tailfins, forgetting that he was missing one... and they both had moved at the same time. 'How are you doing that?!'

They landed on a nearby island, so they could have a proper conversation.

"We survived!" Hiccup laughed triumphantly.

'Yes, and it was awesome.' Toothless turned his head to look at Hiccup, who was still in the saddle. 'Now I'm more interested in how. Are you reading my mind?' He turned in a small circle, trying to get at the rider on his back. He wanted to thank Hiccup properly for restoring his flight, and that would involve being able to reach his friend.

Hiccup laughed, knowing what Toothless had in mind, and made no move to dismount. "No, of course not. I'm using your senses. You still have a tiny bit of your other tailfin, and I can feel your muscles move whenever you want to move that fin. You still try to move it by reflex, or maybe instinct. I can tell what you want to do as soon as those muscles shift, and I just react to those changes, instead of thinking about what I should do." He looked at the hyper dragon still circling below him. "I'm not getting away from an involuntary bath, I can tell."

'Nope. Now get down here.'

After cleaning the spit off of his face, Hiccup turned to his friend. "Is there any other way to express gratitude for dragons?"

Toothless snorted. 'No, not really. Why would we need another way?'

Hiccup wiped an errant strand of saliva he had missed out of his hair. "Oh, no reason. I guess you guys don't have to worry about washing it out."

'To be honest, it really doesn't happen very often anyway.' Toothless looked down. 'Gratitude was never a big thing in the nest. More despair than anything else.'

"In that case, don't stop on my account." Hiccup sighed. "But I'm happy to have fixed what I broke, even if only partially."

Toothless was suddenly very interested in distracting his friend before Hiccup began blaming himself again, as he was prone to do. 'Well, we can definitely fly now.'

"That we can." Hiccup picked up on the change of subject. "Now what?"

They decided to spend some time fishing, dragon-style, now that Hiccup had figured out how to fly as naturally as Toothless could want. To Toothless, if he closed his eyes and ignored the weight on his back, he might be able to forget he was missing a fin. But he didn't want to forget. This way of flying was great! He spotted another school of fish and fired into the water. Once the stunned fish had floated to the surface, he swooped over and grabbed as many as he could in his mouth and claws.

Hiccup was enjoying this and didn't mind the spray. They quickly had more than enough food. Upon the successful completion of their first fishing trip, the two returned to that small, barren hunk of rock they had landed on earlier because it was close and had enough driftwood for a decent fire.

Hiccup leaned against Toothless's side as he roasted his fish. Toothless had the rest right in front of him and was taking his time in eating them. A few minutes in, several Terrible Terrors decided to crash the party. There were three of them, and they clearly wanted some of the fish in Toothless's pile. Neither Hiccup nor Toothless were particularly scared of Terrible Terrors now, especially after what had happened in the arena.

Toothless was surprised to see Terrors that didn't flee from a Night Fury on sight. He had figured that in all the time the Queen raided around here, all the Terrors not afraid of Night Furies would have been wiped out. He grabbed a few fish and tossed them at the Terrors. The small dragons looked even more shocked than normal (large bulging eyes made them always look a little startled) at the sight a larger dragon voluntarily sharing.

Hiccup smiled and scratched Toothless's head. "Someone's got a soft spot for these little guys, huh?"

'I'll do my best to balance how the Queen treats Terrors. They see a Night Fury when they see the Queen killing them, so now they'll see a Night Fury voluntarily sharing food. Hopefully, the two cancel each other out.'

Hiccup could understand that. The idea of fixing something that you felt was at least partly your fault was a very familiar concept. However, this particular act of kindness had a side effect. When Hiccup and Toothless flew back to Berk and the cove, the Terrors followed them.

Toothless didn't want to have to scare them off, so the Terrors hung around for a while in the cove. Neither of them particularly minded. Hiccup spent another night there because he honestly couldn't be bothered to go back to the village. The next dragon training still wasn't for another six days. Gobber and Astrid were going to leave the day after tomorrow, to go catch another Terror. Tomorrow, Hiccup planned to spend most of the day flying with Toothless.

That was exactly what they did. That is, after Toothless ran with Hiccup in the forest. He insisted so that Hiccup would get his practice in. It went about how Hiccup had expected. He could almost match the Night Fury in the denser areas, mostly because he was smaller, but in the less dense areas Toothless had to slow down so Hiccup could keep up.

Toothless quite enjoyed being able to run with Hiccup, as opposed to just watching from the boy's senses. He also found it quite entertaining to watch Hiccup in the denser areas. It was entirely different from the bullheaded charging that passed for a run with Vikings. Toothless thought Hiccup might not entirely like that, though he saw that as an improvement in itself.

They flew for most of the rest of the day, only stopping at around noon to fish up lunch. Now that Toothless was feeding himself, he wasn't limited to whatever Hiccup could sneak out of the village. That had been quite a lot, by human standards, and Toothless had by no measure been starving, but it was nice to finally eat his fill, knowing he could get more if he needed to. As a result, he had even more energy than usual.

They dealt with it by flying, Hiccup perfecting just accessing Toothless's senses enough to feel the signals, without necessarily full embracing his other senses. It wasn't difficult, once he had the trick down.

And the flying had a purpose. Hiccup and Toothless had retrieved the empty basket from the cove, and filled it with fish. Hiccup was going to sneak the full basket of fish to the storehouse later. They would need to space out these deliveries to avoid suspicion, but Hiccup was happy to begin paying the village back their unwitting loan of food now that he could.

They also tried to practice Hiccup talking to Toothless in his head, but they made no progress on that. Neither of them was sure if it was even possible for Hiccup to do. Maybe it only worked for the creator of the link, or maybe only for dragons. But it was still possible Hiccup might eventually figure it out. That would be nice, as it would mean he could fully respond no matter who was around.

They were flying back to Berk, weary from the day's activities, when they saw it. More accurately, when Toothless saw it. 'Hiccup, use my sight for a second.'

Hiccup did as requested, and with Toothless's superior vision, he could see a fleet of ships approaching Berk from the distant horizon. They were in tatters. Sails patched hastily, holes left open above the waterline, scorch marks everywhere. They could only be one thing. Hiccup had seen his father set out a few weeks ago, but he hadn't been expected back for another month. At least.

'Do you know who they are?'

"Yeah, unfortunately. Looks like my dad is back... early. Great."

Toothless was worried. Hiccup had only told him a few things about his father, barring his rant on the cliff. He was chief, he was a dragon killer almost of legend, and he was searching for the nest, for at least another month. But the way Hiccup had talked about him, and his tone now... 'This isn't good.' It was somewhere between a statement and a question.

Hiccup took it as a question. "No, it really is not. Let's get back to the cove." Once they had landed, Hiccup jumped off and immediately started pacing. "Okay, we need to think. What changes now that he's back?" Hiccup seemed to be talking to himself as much as Toothless and answered his own question. "Everything. I won't be able to spend so much time missing anymore. He might eventually notice. And I definitely can't spend any nights here without a good excuse beforehand. We'll need to be more careful in the woods, and flying, because there are way more villagers now, and it's more likely someone will decide to go for a walk. Man, this is a mess."

'It's going to be really hard to keep all of this hidden.'

"Yeah... and that's another thing. I really need to figure out how to talk to you with my head, because he'll be way more likely to notice me mumbling randomly..."

'Maybe that's the answer!' Toothless had a crazy idea. Hiccup would have been proud if he wasn't so distracted. 'You can just pretend to actually be crazy! Then no one will care if you talk to yourself, and no one will find it weird you disappear all the time.'

Hiccup smiled sadly. "Good idea, but most Vikings are weird anyway. Either I'd not do it well enough, in which case no one would care, or I'd do it so well that they ship me off the island. And I'm not ready to leave Berk. Not yet, anyway..."

Toothless didn't like the sound of that. 'What do you mean, not ready to leave? When did we consider leaving?'

"Well, we'll have to leave at least temporarily when we take out the Queen. And, we can leave now, if we want to."

'But you don't want to.' Toothless was pretty sure of this, though he didn't know exactly why.

"Leaving feels like giving up. I don't want to leave Berk without knowing I either tried everything or physically can't come back safely. But if something goes wrong, we do have that option."

'When you say tried everything...'

"I still need to figure out a way around someone killing that Nightmare in the arena. And if I leave, I can't stop Astrid from 'accidentally' offing the other arena dragons. And I think it might be possible to show the village that dragons aren't the enemy... maybe if we can take down the Queen, then I could convince them."

Toothless wanted all of that to happen, but... 'You want to convince Vikings, the people that list 'suicidal stubbornness' as a positive quality, to reverse three hundred years of fighting and make peace with the enemy they slaughter for entertainment?'

"Yes. If I can. But it wouldn't surprise me if they can't change, either. I have to at least try. But that has to wait until we end the Queen. The raids would counter anything I did to change minds."

'Alright, so we need to save the arena dragons somehow, avoid being detected by your father, and kill a mind-controlling Queen. Then, after that, we can work on changing a village of Vikings. Got it.' Toothless was being completely serious. Now was not the time for sarcasm.

"Yup. Alright, step one. I really need to be able to communicate with you in my head. Tell me again how you do it."

'I just think what I want to, like talking to you now. If you're not right here, I expand the pocket that has your perception. Then I single out your hearing, and just kind of... connect them. That's all I do. I can do it almost instantly, without even really thinking about it. That's how the Queen talked to me when she was in an extrapolative mood and felt like monologuing. She liked to explain at length how superior her powers were compared to mine, or any other Night Fury. Horrible to sit through without being able to ignore her or respond, but quite helpful now. She gave me quite a bit of information, and I don't think she cared what I knew. Not like I could ever escape.' That last part was said wryly.

Hiccup tried, for what felt like the hundredth time, to do what Toothless described. He thought of a message and tried to push it to Toothless's hearing. No matter how hard he pushed, he never could get it to go through. "It isn't working."

'Maybe you just need practice? Try doing it whenever you can, it might just click after a while.'

Hiccup didn't believe that would work, but he would do it anyway. "I will, but for now I'll just have to be really careful. I should head back before his ships are visible from Berk. Don't want Gobber searching for me to tell me the great news." That was definitely sarcastic. Hiccup made it sound like the worst news possible. "Will you be okay until I can get back here? I don't know when I'll be able to slip away tomorrow, we're gonna be overloaded in the forge."

'I'll be fine. Worry about yourself.'

"I have you to do that for me."

'Reckless.'

"Overprotective."

Hiccup began his run back, Toothless directing him, even if it wasn't really necessary. He figured Hiccup would want him to be there. He would be watching through Hiccup the entire time. It was all he could do.

Hiccup made it back, and as predicted Gobber found him in the Great Hall with the news an hour later. He did his best to act excited, though it became almost impossible to maintain a happy facade when Gobber let something seemingly unrelated slip in his excitement. A Terror had been captured sneaking around the fish storage, and so Gobber wouldn't need to go get another from some random island, something he was quite happy about.

'I just checked. The Terrors that followed us back are gone. It's probably one of them.' Toothless's voice was low.

Hiccup felt sick, and Toothless wasn't much better. He managed to see Gobber off without making him suspicious. As soon as it was safe, he started talking. "It's not your fault." Hiccup knew Toothless would be blaming himself for feeding those Terrors and inadvertently leading them to danger and possible death by Astrid if past experience was any indication.

'It is. But we were already going to make sure no one kills the arena dragons. Somehow.'

Hiccup was relieved. Toothless still blamed himself, but the fact that they could still do something to fix it was probably helping him cope. "I just hope the other two leave. The village doesn't need a Terror alive for the arena now."

By even optimistic estimates, the fleet wouldn't return until after midnight. Hiccup had a good excuse not to be there when they docked. He spent the night in an uneasy sleep, with unsettling dreams.

A short time after midnight, the fleet docked. Gobber made a beeline to Stoick, anxious to hear what had happened, along with one other, possibly more important matter that he wished wasn't his responsibility. Stoick stepped off of the leading vessel, looking none the worse for wear, unlike the ship itself. He and Gobber talked business for a few minutes. As they did, Gobber pieced together what had happened.

They had apparently never even made it to Helheim's gate, the starting point for nest hunts. On their way there, they had happened to cross the path of a raiding party setting out to some other island. The dragons had decided the fleet made an easier target. When all was said and done, enough sails were incinerated, among other things, that the time it took them to patch the ships up while still at sea and sail back with jury-rigged equipment accounted for the rest of the time they were gone. Stoick, understandably enough, was not happy about that.

He did perk up, however, when several villagers congratulated him in passing about his son's performance in dragon training. He also heard talk that Astrid was shaping up into a fearsome warrior.

Gobber wasn't looking forward to what was coming next.

"So, how's dragon training been going? I'm already hearing things I don't believe!"

Gobber squirmed inwardly at Stoick's hopeful tone. "Yeah, abou' that. Stoick, we need tah talk. Privately."

Stoick frowned but followed him to an isolated table in the mostly empty Great Hall.

Gobber grabbed two tankards of mead and brought them over.

"So, dragon training?"

Gobber scowled. "The twins, Snotlout, and Fishlegs are doin' as one would expect. Not well. Fishlegs is too scared, the twins are too reckless, and Snotlout might do okay if he would think before he attacks. Oh, and Astrid offed a Terror. Annoyin', bu' we got another one by luck just today, so no 'arm done. What I want to talk to yeh about is Hiccup."

"Well?" There was a note of excitement in Stoick's voice, but he was picking up on Gobber's reluctance.

"Hiccup is actin' a bit... stranger than usual, lately."

"Stranger than usual? How is that even possible?"

"He's always been, eh, different, but ever since startin' dragon trainin' he's..." Gobber trailed off for a moment, trying to compose the vague oddness he had noticed into words. "He talks to himself, now. Not just a few words. I saw 'im talk for a few minutes straight, once. In the arena, when he thought no one was around. And he's been getting angrier easier. He's doin' good, better than good, in trainin' itself, but he's disappearing all the time. I'm nae quite sure if he even comes home at night anymore. And he's been actin' weird, besides. He taunted Astrid after he took down a dragon once. And as far as I'm aware, Hiccup isn'nae normally suicidal, so that was odd. If I 'adn'ta interfered, ah think she woulda killed 'im."

"Astrid's lack of discipline is disturbing. How did the other trainees react to her killing a Terror?" Stoick knew that things like that usually weren't seen until much later when the trainees fought in real battles and raids. It affected most differently, their first time seeing something like that. And the arena dragons had a pretty good survival rate, for some reason.

"The usual. A bit of shock, ya know the drill. 'cept Hiccup. He saw the whole thing, but it seemed to make him angry more than anythin' else. Apparently, he criticised Astrid's actions after she left. Somethin' about her not bein' in the heat o' battle, that she did it intentionally."

It disturbed Stoick that Hiccup had reacted like that. It went against pretty much all he knew of his son. Then again... "You made it seem like you had horrible news, Gobber. The thing with Astrid wasn't great, but she is shaping up into a fine warrior. And Hiccup, from everything I've heard so far, is finally growing into a real Viking! Good against dragons, developing a temper, reckless behavior! The talking to himself is odd, but I'm sure we can break him of that bad habit." Stoick reconsidered his son's stubbornness. "And if not, at least it'll unnerve his enemies!"

Gobber could see that Stoick was set in his opinions. He himself was still very worried about Hiccup's sanity. The speed the boy changed just wasn't normal.

Stoick laughed and asked Gobber a question he wasn't sure how to answer. "So, who do you think'll win dragon training?"

Gobber decided to go with the easy answer. "Hiccup or Astrid, it'll be a surprise to me too." He didn't add his last, sneaking suspicion. Hiccup... if something doesn't accidentally 'happen' to him. It might not even be Astrid. Snotlout made no secret of hating third place. He didn't mention it, because Stoick either wouldn't believe or wouldn't care if he did. The way he was now, he would be sure his son could fight his own battles. Gobber just hoped he would see the strangeness in Hiccup's behavior when he interacted with him personally. Although, that would be relying on Stoick's perceptiveness. Never a good idea.

Stoick left the Great Hall, but Gobber stayed. He could use a few dozen mugs of ale, but he would have a lot of work tomorrow. Stoick was back, and that meant the holiday was over. Over for Hiccup, too.


	12. Chapter 12

Hiccup woke before dawn, as per usual nowadays. He had gotten into the habit to have time to make it to the cove and back before training, but he stayed with it even when his increasing speed and endurance made in unnecessary. Besides, he wasn't getting much sleep of the restful variety today anyway. He wondered idly for a moment whether Stoick was up yet. Avoiding him would be extremely suspicious. His father had just returned from a life-threatening raid, he should be happy to see him. Instead, he only felt worried.

He decided not to go downstairs until daybreak, in about half an hour. Stoick would be up by then. Until then, he could practice talking in his head to Toothless. If he figured it out, he might be able to wake him up. Toothless had said he wanted to be present for everything in the village now. Hiccup had to assume it was an offshoot of Toothless's protective (at least of Hiccup) nature. Toothless wanted to be there, even if he couldn't physically do anything. Hiccup strained to get a message across for the entire time he waited. No success whatsoever. He felt like if he tried any harder, he would give himself a headache. The harder he tried, the less he felt like he was making progress.

'I see I'm just in time.' Toothless announced his presence after a few minutes of Hiccup sitting in his room, waiting.

Hiccup smiled. "Actually, I've been up for half an hour. I was kind of waiting for you."

'Darn. Well, almost guessed when you'd be up. Ready?'

Hiccup spoke softly as he descended into the rest of the house. "Nope. Remember, I can't talk to you at all."

'I'll just offer moral support. No response needed.'

Hiccup smiled. That had been a well-timed comment because it meant he greeted Stoick with a genuine smile by complete accident, as he descended to find him already at the table.

"Ah, Hiccup." Stoick shifted in his seat at the table.

"Hey dad, glad you're back. I would ask how it went, but the trashed ships seemed like a pretty good hint."

Toothless snorted. 'Are you always like this?'

Stoick smiled, though not at Hiccup's comment. "Good to be back. No luck with the nest, but I hear you've been doing well! Doing great in training, and from what Gobber's told me, maybe developing some other Viking-like qualities, like a temper! I always told you you'd grow into this stuff, looks like I was right! All it took was being thrown in a confined space with a firebreathing reptile!"

Toothless chuckled at that. 'He is way more right than he'll probably ever know. And I guess it does look like you have a temper, from another perspective at least.'

Hiccup wasn't particularly happy with that, but it was better than the alternative.

Stoick continued, unaware of the other participant in the conversation. "After all these years of the worst Viking Berk has ever seen! The clumsiness, the weird inventions, the penchant for setting things on fire..." Stoick trailed off, still smiling happily.

Hiccup wasn't happy anymore. In his attempts to compliment Hiccup, Stoick was being way more offensive than normal, not that he would know that. Hiccup's 'weird inventions' had shot down a Night Fury. His clumsiness could have been helped if anyone had bothered, apparently. It had taken a dragon to finally care enough to help him with that, albeit as a side effect of other things. And the fires had always been accidents! He was making it sound like all of these 'horrible habits' had just been Hiccup messing around instead of legitimate accidents, fixable problems no one cared about, and what made him unique.

But Stoick was just getting started. "Odin! It was rough. I almost gave up on you. But all the while you were holding out on me, Thor almighty!"

Almost gave up? At what point, Hiccup wondered furiously, was he planning on giving up? Because he had straight up said he was considering it, that he was nearly at the point of giving up hope his own son would ever do anything he could be proud of.

'Hiccup, calm down. Your hands are shaking. You can't let him get to you, he isn't saying this stuff on purpose. He thinks he's congratulating you.' At this point, Toothless was intentionally playing the part of Hiccup's rational side. He didn't want to, because he was offended on Hiccup's behalf, but if he didn't, Hiccup might snap. And that wouldn't end well if he did it here. He could vent it later, in the cove.

Hiccup listened, albeit reluctantly. He unclenched his hands. No one except Toothless noticed the small marks where his fingernails had dug into his palms. That wasn't important. Hiccup had been avoiding eye contact this whole time. That wasn't unusual for him; Stoick didn't see the rage in his eyes because of that. Hiccup quickly reset his face's neutral expression, focusing on holding it.

Gobber had been right about Stoick's somewhat stunted powers of observation, and Stoick noticed none of the subtle signs that he was doing something wrong. He sighed happily, and said in a quieter voice; "With you doing so well in the ring, we finally have something to talk about. How are you beating Astrid in the arena? We all thought she was a shoo-in for the best warrior of your generation, but you seem to be intent on proving us wrong."

Hiccup wanted to answer that Astrid was proving them right because if it wasn't for Astrid, there would be one less dead dragon's blood staining the arena's stone floor. He, on the other hand, was decidedly the worst dragon fighter, because he didn't want to be one. He couldn't say that. But what could he say? How would he explain his victories? The truth wouldn't work. Stoick wouldn't accept that it was all a series of tricks, learned by non-violent interactions with dragons. And he didn't want to give any Viking some of the knowledge he had used. Eels, pressure points, distractions. All could be used to make the slaughter of every raid ten times worse. That ruled out any explanation with even a shred of truth. He needed an explanation that a Viking would believe. They weren't big on brainpower, instead valuing muscles and instinct- that would work. "I don't really know. I just get in there, focus, and stuff just happens. I'm probably just working on instinct. I don't know what I'm going to do ahead of time, and I don't think I could repeat any of it to demonstrate. It just happens in the moment."

There was a moment of silence.

'That was a great excuse. He'll believe it, and won't pressure you to demonstrate or explain, because you can't!' Toothless was relieved. He was sure Stoick would fall for that.

Hiccup inwardly collapsed in relief when Stoick replied favorably.

"Ah, I knew my blood and my father's blood would show eventually. Doing it all on instinct. Hah! Bet that's what's got Astrid so mad. She practices for years straight, and you trounce her on instinct!'

Hiccup inwardly cringed, because there was probably some truth to that. It really didn't look like he was trying to improve outside of the ring. Well, he was, but not for dragon training. And no one knew about that.

"I can't wait to watch you in the ring. I'll have Gobber move up the final test, you and Astrid both seem ready. We'll have the deciding round tomorrow morning. I would do it today, but Gobber will be mad if I take his apprentice away after loading his schedule. Well, off you go. Gobber's probably already working." Stoick grinned.

Hiccup was speechless. Just like that, Stoick had brought events to a head. There was no more time to think, to plan, to prepare. Tomorrow, he would either lose to Astrid and watch the Nightmare die the next day, or beat Astrid and be expected to kill the Nightmare the next day. Unless he could think of a third option. In the little time he had left.

'Get out of there before he starts talking again.'

Hiccup jolted back to reality. He left out of the front door in a rush, heading to the forge and a day of metalwork. "Will you be okay? I'll be stuck here until dark. I'll come over then, even if I have to go through the woods at night. We can fish then, and figure out what in the world to do about this mess."

'I'll be fine. I've gone far longer without food. While you work, I'll float ideas as to what we can do. You don't have to respond, but maybe something I say will help.' Toothless was trying to make Hiccup feel better, and he really did hope they could find some way out of this.

'So, let's break it down like we did with the Terror in the arena.'

Hiccup winced slightly. Not the best memory at a time like this. He was busy sharpening things from a stack of weapons that was steadily growing faster than he could work. He didn't mind because that meant he would be undisturbed for a while, and the grinder drowned out his responses for anyone but Toothless so Hiccup could participate in the brainstorming as he worked.

'We know the Nightmare is the only dragon in danger at the moment. Whichever one is used for the final test, Astrid won't kill a dragon against orders in front of the entire village. We know that you could let her win, or you can use something like the pressure point to win yourself. We get to decide who fights the Nightmare.'

"Then it has to be me. If it comes down to one of us in the arena with it, there's nothing we can do to stop Astrid."

'If it comes down to that. It might not matter. Think, Hiccup. What else is there? Can we postpone the actual fight with the Nightmare?'

"Not without a good reason, and we don't have one. Besides, my dad is itching to see me be the best, so he won't listen to excuses anyway."

'What if he has no choice? You can't fight a Nightmare if there's no Nightmare to fight. If we could set it free, he'd have to wait until they can capture another.'

Hiccup liked that idea, even if it was only a temporary solution. "Yeah, and he'd have to wait at least until the next raid, unlike with the Terror, because Nightmares aren't just found lying around everywhere. That buys us time, but it doesn't solve the problem. The village doesn't guard the dragon pens, but if we set one free, they'll probably set a guard on the others. We can only do this safely once."

'If we can only do it once, we need to set them all free. That will make it less suspicious than if just the Nightmare got out.'

Hiccup was getting into the problem now, his brain unfreezing now that they had the start to a plan, and wasn't working from scratch. "If we set them all free, it will be obvious some person did it. But the village does have enemies, so they'd probably blame the Outcasts. That would be something Alvin would do."

'Who is Alvin?' Toothless didn't know Berk fought other Vikings and not just dragons.

"Alvin the Treacherous was a member of this village, but he did... something. No one ever says what. Stoick made him an outcast, and now he leads a whole island of other outcasts. Alvin wants revenge, so every once in a while he attacks Berk. If we free the dragons, he'll definitely be blamed. No one will suspect the guy who just had his 'day of glory' postponed by the attack."

'So, that's our plan? Win dragon training and that night free all the arena dragons. Then, we have time to figure out a real end to this.'

"Yeah, but we don't know how much time. The raids are pretty random, and we should expect them to catch a Nightmare in the first raid they know they need one. Stoick will probably do it himself."

'Okay, we know what we have to do. How are you going to handle Astrid? She'll be on the warpath.'

Hiccup gulped. "By hoping she told the exact truth on what she plans to do to me."

'I don't follow.' Toothless didn't like the sound of it either.

"She was specific, she's gonna wait to see if the Nightmare kills me. It'll keep her hands clean if it does, and it'll mean she really is the best. She has to prefer that outcome over killing the best, and me always remembered as the best until... Wait, would she just kill me outright and not hide it? No, she'd kill me and make it look like an accident, or hide the evidence and make it look like I just disappeared. That way she isn't punished. But then she'd be taunted for the rest of her life because people would remember me as the best. She'll definitely wait and hope the dragon does her work for her. And that means she'll have to wait until they catch another one."

'Are you sure? You're betting your life on a crazy person following logic.'

Hiccup laughed bitterly. "Astrid isn't even close to crazy yet. I've seen crazy. Right now, she's just obsessed and capable of killing in cold blood. The crazy won't show up until whatever we do once they get another Nightmare." He was, again, basing all of this off of his experiences with Dagur. "I have no idea what we do at that point because unless, we come up with a really good plan, Astrid won't be our only problem."

The rest of that day passed in a blur of smoke, near-misses with molten metal, and unhappy Vikings finally admitting to themselves that their weapons were mangled beyond repair. Hiccup and Gobber worked just like old times, but Hiccup was silent.

That was unusual, and Gobber tried several times to get him back to their usual bandying of insults. He was always met with a cold gaze and a polite "Sorry Gobber. Not in the mood." Or some other variation of that phrase. Hiccup didn't want to talk to Gobber, but he had no such reservations talking to himself, the blacksmith noted sourly. He saw several times that day the unsettling sight of Hiccup mumbling to no one, his expression occasionally changing for no apparent reason. It gave Gobber the shivers. He was almost relieved when Hiccup requested to leave a bit early and quickly agreed. Hiccup left, though Gobber worried a little more when the boy exited the forge in the direction that only led to the woods. No doubt that was where Hiccup spent all of his free time recently, though Gobber hadn't the faintest clue why. "Why" seemed to be a prominent question in regards to Hiccup. Gobber just wished he had a few answers that didn't involve madness.

Hiccup ran at full, Toothless-assisted speed on the way to the cove, although that wasn't much faster than he could manage on his own, recently. Burning some energy was a must right now. He hadn't really realized how much he had gotten used to all of the exercise Toothless had him doing on a daily basis until he spent most of a day doing what he used to do. Actually having to fake fatigue near the end of the day because even after a full day's work he felt energized was a strange experience. He also wanted to get to the cove before it got dark. He didn't care if Stoick noticed he was gone, he had a good excuse ready about how he had gone running through the forest to clear his head and ended up sleeping under a tree. Usually, that would have been a stretch, but Hiccup was pretty sure Stoick would believe it now that he thought Hiccup was becoming a real Viking. It was an excuse he had actually overheard Snotlout use on occasion with his father. Thor knows what he had been doing; Hiccup was pretty sure in that case ignorance probably was bliss. He expressed these thoughts to Toothless once he reached the cove.

'He's probably just trying to stay away from home. Older hatchlings, what we call fledglings, do it all the time as some show of defiance. I've overheard some dragons saying that that was one of the few good parts of the Queen's control. The fledglings couldn't wander far, because no one was allowed to leave the island.'

"Well, I've never... you know what, forget I was about to say that."

'Were you about to say that you don't stay away from home, while sitting in the middle of the forest after dark, with no intention of returning until the morning?'

"I said forget about it!"

Toothless turned serious. 'You are correct though, you don't. Because you don't really consider the village home.'

Hiccup wished he was in a position to deny that, but it was true. If it hadn't been before all of this, it was now. He didn't consider the village really home. Because to him, home had to contain at least one person who understood you. By that criteria, the village hadn't ever really been home. Also by that criteria, the cove was. Hiccup was good with that. It didn't mean that he wouldn't at least try at some point to get the village to understand. It just made the fact that they probably wouldn't listen easier to bear.

Toothless and Hiccup went fishing, both of them using Toothless's eyes because he could see in the dark. They went back to the cove once they had caught enough for the night and went over the plan for the next day and the night following it. Get to the village, win dragon training, avoid death by Astrid (Toothless's addition, Hiccup didn't think that would be necessary), make himself scarce until night, free arena dragons, get out unseen, be seen in the village as an alibi. Easy.

Needless to say, neither slept easily that night. They were both worried. Hiccup about pulling everything off correctly, and Toothless about being unable to help if something did go wrong. Hiccup found no relief in his restlessness, but Toothless actually had an idea about what he could do.

The next morning, he explained after they went fishing, which also meant flying. 'You can leave the saddle on, and I can stay out of the cove. No one will be in the woods today, everyone will be at the arena and the celebration afterward. That way, if everything really goes bad I can get to you and we can leave. Just in case.'

Hiccup was uneasy about it, but Toothless had a point. He agreed. That was how they parted ways that day.

Toothless saw Hiccup off and left to travel to one of the forest's most isolated spots. He needed to be with Hiccup, and he needed to be safely hidden to do that. He located a particularly dark and shadowed overhang in the deepest part of the forest and curled up beneath it. To passerby, he would be invisible. To anyone who somehow managed to see him, he would seem asleep. But he was very much awake, and his heart was beating quicker in anticipation as his mind joined Hiccup in his run to the village. Ready to see how everything would play out. And ready to intervene if he needed to. Hopefully, he wouldn't.


	13. Chapter 13

**_Author's Note:_** **Woo, crazy week. But thanks to incredible (or not so much, you be the judge) foresight, my personal life didn't impact my posting at all.**

**Oh, also. I plan on adding a tiny bit of personal information to my profile (nothing big, like real name or address, I like living anonymously.) Just a few facts. Before I do, I'd like to do a survey of sorts. Can anyone here guess this author's age, gender, or even career choice? Those are pieces of information that will eventually be present on my profile. I'd love to see how I come across in my writing. How much can be inferred or assumed, correctly or not?**

**One note for future reference. I'm going to start responding to guest reviews at the bottom of the page, so there isn't an even bigger text block in front of what everyone is here to see.**

Hiccup ran, trying to stop thinking for a few moments.

Toothless was present, but he was silent, understanding Hiccup's need for quiet.

Hiccup moved towards the village at a fast pace. His runs through the forest have become much swifter, even more so than when he fled from Astrid. It was all just muscle memory now. Still, the time it took to reach the village felt far too short on this day of all days.

He ran through the village and headed for the arena, but took a detour through the center of the village. He and Toothless had figured that in order for his innocence to be without question in the minds of the Vikings come tomorrow, Hiccup needed to seem excited today. He was running through the village center so that the slower Vikings who were still making their way to the arena could see him. More specifically, see him running at an easy pace there, exuding excitement and confidence as he went.

At least, that was what he hoped he looked like.

In reality, his stomach was in knots. It wasn't what was going to happen in the arena that scared him. That was all but a foregone conclusion. It was the knowledge of what he would do tonight. He really wished Stoick hadn't moved the event to today. With more time, even if he hadn't been able to think of a better plan, he would have had time to mentally prepare. Too much tonight would rely on chance for him to be happy with it, despite all the planning they had done. Vikings were unpredictable, and there were too many unknowns. So, he worried.

He was startled out of his circling thoughts by the roar of the crowd as he entered into the arena proper, and into the line of sight of the stands. He was momentarily stunned. Vikings could be very loud when they wanted to. Ignoring them was difficult, but he tried anyway. It didn't work. Desperate for quiet, he fully expanded Toothless's sense of hearing, concentrating fully on it. The result was as if he had deafened himself. Now, all he could hear was a faint birdcall in the distance. That was much better. He held that for a moment until he saw the crowd quiet down. He then returned to his normal sense of hearing.

Calmed somewhat, Hiccup examined the interior of the arena. Today, there were only a few wooden blockades, waist-high and too flimsy to provide protection. That wasn't their purpose. They were only there to provide cover, a place to ambush from. Because Thor forbid any Viking use them to hide. There were two other people in the arena besides Hiccup. Gobber was standing next to the exit, ready to leave and shut the only path of retreat. Astrid was in the center of the arena. She held her ax at the ready. Hiccup had gotten into the habit of leaving his replacement ax in the arena, so he didn't have to run with it. He moved to the weapon rack and hoisted it, but had no intention of using it. It was really just for show since nobody would believe he intended to fight a dragon bare-handed, even if his father could and did during raids at times.

The look in Astrid's eyes was unsettling. They were confident and relaxed. She must still believe Hiccup would throw the fight. It's what he would have done if he had been in this situation at any time before the events of the last few weeks. But now he had something to fight for. Something to protect. And that meant he had no choice. He couldn't let her win. At least one life depended on his actions here and now.

Stoick was in the extra-large seat designated as the chief's chair. It was front and center of the bottom row and had the best view. He wouldn't be presiding over the training today, he was only here to watch. There was actually nothing formal about today. The only difference was that Gobber had removed the other teens from the ring when they showed up, ready for training. It was entirely possible the twins still didn't know why. Fishlegs knew, and Snotlout definitely did not. He would still be protesting being essentially declared unworthy to even be considered the best in the class if he knew. Hiccup could see them in the crowd, interspersed among the random Viking spectators.

Gobber didn't give any speeches. He simply moved in front of the controls and said one word. "Gronckle."

He pulled the lever. As always, the bulbous lump of a dragon burst out of the doors and proceeded to slam into the opposite wall.

Hiccup was pretty sure, after seeing that this many times, that it did so intentionally. Or it had memory problems. One of the two.

It circled the upper edge of the arena, processing the fact that there were more annoying Vikings watching than usual and fewer actual threats.

As it circled them, Astrid grinned. She had ducked behind one of the flimsy stands, and Hiccup had done the same on his side of the arena. The Gronckle had to know they were in there, but it didn't know where. Astrid looked directly over at Hiccup and smiled. It was probably impossible to see from the stands, and it made Hiccup's hair stand on end. She beckoned as if to tell him to go ahead. The steel behind her gaze was to remind him of her promise.

He steadied his nerves. Now more than any other time, this had to look good.

The Gronckle decided to examine the barriers closer to the ground. It would pass between them in a few seconds. Hiccup waited until it was a few feet away, and charged towards it. He had half a second to see the shock on Astrid's face as he moved past her.

He had known what he would have to do seconds after the Gronckle had burst into the ring. His best bet was the pressure point under the chin. Hitting it immediately wouldn't be hard, but that was only half of the challenge. He needed to make this look violent enough so as to not raise questions about why the dragon dropped so easily, and if he could, he needed to make it look spur of the moment. Ideally in a way that wasn't slow enough for Astrid to mess it up. He and Toothless had created a strategy for each of the arena dragons last night, and the one for the Gronckle might have been the most impressive looking of the bunch. Although what they had been forced to come up with for the Zippleback was a close second.

Hiccup charged the dragon, angling slightly at its left side. At the last minute, he rolled under its half-hearted swipe and lunged at the dragon's head from the right. The Gronckle had been confused by a combination of Hiccup's aggressive behavior, the intimidating scent of Night Fury that clung to him, and the shocked and enraged warcry of Astrid half a second after she had realized Hiccup wasn't going to let her win. Because of this, Hiccup's roll hadn't been great, but he had made it to where he needed to be; he was within touching range of the Gronckle's chin. He punched his right hand out at the dragon's pressure point in a quick and subtle motion. At the same time, he swung his ax in a flashy arc at the Gronckle's tiny forehead, angling it so that the haft struck between the eyes, just hard enough to look real.

The end result was impressive to behold, no Vikings saw Hiccup break out of hiding and charge straight at the dragon, a hard stare of concentration his only expression. They saw him roll away from a swipe of the dragon's meaty but short forearm and clobber the Gronckle between the eyes, and they saw it immediately struggle and ultimately fail to retain consciousness. And all of this happened in the time Astrid was leaping barriers and rushing towards them, screaming promises of bloody murder. At which of the combatants they were directed was not specified. In that moment, the crowd was silent.

Hiccup felt bad for hitting the Gronckle, but he hadn't hit it very hard. The pressure point was what sent it to sleep. It wasn't an immediate sleep, like with Toothless, which just happened to make things look that much more dramatic. It had worked perfectly.

Gobber dropped back into the arena. The crowd remained silent because they knew what was coming next. Elder Gothi had always been one of the spectators of dragon training. She was there from the beginning. That was because she, not Gobber, was the one who decided which trainee got to kill the dragon at the end. It wasn't a simple matter of proclaiming whichever participant happened to defeat this particular dragon the winner. Gothi picked based on criteria no one entirely knew. Most years, she picked the obvious favorite, but every once in a while she picked the runner-up for no discernable reason.

It would be just Hiccup's luck if this was one of those years. He didn't need Gobber to drag him to stand next to Astrid, who was entirely still and held her back stiff. She was visibly holding herself in check. She knew as well as Hiccup did that she was at a disadvantage, but not out yet. Gothi could still pick her.

Right about then someone had finally seen fit to inform Snotlout what was going on. His cry of "WHAT?!" broke the silence, and he was immediately hushed by the Vikings around him.

Gobber held his hook over Astrid's head. The Elder considered for an interminable moment, before slowly shaking her head. Gobber moved his hook over Hiccup's head, ignoring the quiet muttering among the crowd, and Astrid's rapidly darkening face. Gothi again paused, before smiling and nodding.

The world exploded into motion and sound. Hiccup was most immediately concerned with avoiding Astrid, who hadn't moved.

She turned to face him, and he saw rage bordering on insanity there. Then the rage faded. Astrid's face returned to its normal color. The rage was replaced by ice. Her tone, or what little of it could be discerned above the noise of the crowd, was cold and professional. "I can't wait to see how you fare against the Nightmare tomorrow. Either result will be interesting." That was Astrid's creepily calm way of saying he had just guaranteed his own death. Either the dragon would kill him tomorrow, or she would shortly after.

Hiccup was just glad she hadn't snapped then and there. He had been expecting some reminder of the fact that he had just sealed his fate in her eyes. At least she had confirmed his reasoning so far. Hopefully, his logic would hold true.

Gobber was excited, and Stoick was beside himself in pride, but all Hiccup could feel was anticipation. Now came the uncertain part of his day. How soon could he break away from the celebrations? He wanted to spend any extra time he had with Toothless, ideally in the cove. That place had become a symbol of safety for him, and he needed that reassurance. Quietly slipping away wasn't an option though. He had to endure the enthusiasm of various Vikings as they flooded the arena floor, and lifted him off of his feet in celebration. He did his best to act enthusiastic. The stomach-churning feeling of anticipation made that hard.

It took Hiccup four hours to finally get a chance to leave. The partying in the Great Hall had started immediately and was less chaotic than usual thanks to a rare bit of Viking foresight. The festivities were restricted to a certain amount of mead per Viking. This was because Hiccup would kill the Nightmare at noon tomorrow, and partying Vikings usually got so drunk, come noon no one would be awake. The Vikings took the limitation of alcohol in fairly good humor because they knew they would just get twice as drunk tomorrow, and be sure not to miss the fight to boot. As such, Hiccup needed a legitimate reason to depart, instead of just slipping past the unconscious or oblivious partiers.

That excuse had come in the form of a complaint to Stoick, of all people. He had insinuated that he needed to train in the forest in preparation for the next day, and that had had Stoick giving his permission quite quickly. Hiccup was sure Stoick would have wanted to accompany him on his last preparatory time before his big day, and because of this had asked quickly as soon as he saw the telltale signs of a brawl in the making. He had timed that perfectly and was able to slip away without Stoick following when he had to go and deal with the brawlers. In Stoick's case, he didn't so much mean split up the fight as win it.

Toothless had been quite interested in seeing his first Viking party, and was still paying keen attention by the time Hiccup made his exit. He pulled back from Hiccup's perceptions and stretched before moving on foot back to the cove to meet Hiccup. Not having eaten since the night before was annoyingly distracting. As such, he was dreaming of cod and other types of fish when his instincts alerted him that something wasn't right. He froze. He was near the edge of the cove, and he was approaching from downwind of the cove, as was his habit. It paid off this time because there was already someone down there. And it wasn't Hiccup. 'Hiccup, there's someone in the cove.'

Hiccup slowed to a stop on his way to that very spot, still about five minutes away if he ran. He immediately accessed Toothless's senses. The dragon moved slowly, and after a minute was in a position to see the inside without being in danger of being spotted. It was Astrid. The very sight of her in the one place Hiccup considered safe was an unpleasant surprise. She was sitting cross-legged on a boulder, slowly sharpening her ax with a whetstone.

'It looks like she's waiting for something.'

"Someone. She must think this is where I go. I have no clue why she would be here. She isn't planning on killing me yet."

'She can still hurt you without killing you. It would improve the likelihood of you dying tomorrow against the Nightmare if you had injuries.'

Hiccup knew she couldn't do anything too drastic because a broken or severed limb would be pretty obvious. But why would she risk attacking him and not killing him at all? It didn't fit with her motives. She would be dishonored for beating someone up the day before that person's fight in front of the village. For interfering with the entertainment, if nothing else. "No, that's not why she's here."

'Then why?' Toothless sounded nervous, despite the fact that she didn't know he was there.

"I don't know. But I want her out of there. That place isn't for her. It's ours."

Toothless agreed with that entirely. But there was the question of getting her to leave, and even then... 'I don't think it matters anymore.'

"What?"

'Hiccup, the only thing that made that cove safe for us was that no one knew about it. Now one of the worst possible people does know about it. And there are remains of a fire, so she knows you spend time there. I don't think we can go there anymore. It was a safe haven, but now it's a death trap.'

Hiccup hated Astrid for this. Knowingly or not, she had destroyed the safety of a place with more good memories than the rest of the island combined. But he knew Toothless was right. They couldn't go back there anymore. He was just lucky that everything of material value in there was currently packed and on Toothless's saddle, which was on his back at the moment. If it wasn't for the Night Fury's last minute suggestion, Astrid would have found some quite incriminating stuff in that cove... and Toothless would have been in there. Trapped in a stone prison with a cold, dangerous, and slightly insane dragon-killer in training, armed with an ax and a rage well past murderous. With no way out. That made Hiccup shiver to think about. This could have been so much worse.

He resumed running, and Toothless turned from the cove and its invader, who had poisoned it for both of them, permanently. Toothless met him halfway. Hiccup moved over to Toothless and embraced the Fury in their version of a hug. It was for both of them because they had both lost something they valued.

"We'll find another place. But it won't be the same."

'No, it won't. But we need one anyway.'

"we might as well start looking after we eat."

'Fine by me.'

An hour later, they were full and ready to begin the search. Toothless was determined to find somewhere that Astrid would never find. That no Viking would ever find. Somewhere isolated, but reachable from the village, if one knew the way. Ideally, somewhere partially sheltered from the elements. Somewhere with fresh water nearby. But after surveying the uninhabited side of Berk, he was coming to the realization that a place that met all of these requirements might not exist.

Anywhere high in the mountain was out, because Hiccup could never get there without Toothless or a few spare days to climb up. For that matter, Toothless wouldn't be able to get there either, without Hiccup operating his tailfin. On the far side of the island, they found a large cave system, with running water in one of the side caves, in the form of a small underground stream. It was nice, but it opened up into a large field. That was way too exposed. Anyone within eyeshot of the field would see a black dragon in that field with no difficulty. Eventually, they decided they needed to revise their expectations.

'I guess the cove was one of a kind here on Berk.' Toothless huffed in annoyance, passing over the same patch of woods for what felt like the tenth time.

Hiccup sighed from his position on Toothless's back. He had to agree. "Fresh water, plenty of space, well-hidden... Wait. On that note, how exactly did Astrid find the cove? The entrance is almost impossible to see unless you know where to look. And I always take different paths to and from there, so I know I didn't beat a trail leading to it."

Toothless snorted, banking into a shallow curve, directing them in an arc across the back end of the island. 'Maybe she got lucky. Or maybe she's been searching for a while, at least for where you were going. I wouldn't have noticed her unless she was loud, upwind, or actually in the cove.'

The conversation died off after that. It didn't really matter how Astrid had found the cove. She had, and that was all there was to it.

They decided eventually to check the coastline of the back edge of the island. It would be a long trip to get there from the village, but Hiccup could make it in half the time it would take most other Vikings, and if they did find something, it would be as isolated by distance as possible.

They soared close to the water, circling this half of the island. Berk was a vertical place, and more than half the edge of the island was sheer cliff. There were a few isolated beaches, but they were small and simple strips of sand, probably gone entirely when the tide was in. Although the tide was almost in now, so they might actually be larger at other times.

Toothless finally spotted something when they were almost three-quarters of the way around the island. It was a strange hole, bored directly into one of the nondescript cliffs at an angle sloping downward into the rock.

Hiccup had seen it as well, and they moved closer out of curiosity. The hole was a bit too circular to have been natural, and Hiccup was aware of that. "What made this?"

The underlying question was, was it still there?

'Humans call them 'Whispering Deaths'. This cave looks like it was abandoned a long time ago.'

Hiccup was glad to hear that, but he had a different question. Something Toothless had just said didn't fit right with what he knew.

"Toothless, I thought back in the cove you said that you couldn't understand my words before the link. How would you know what humans call a dragon I've never mentioned, or heard anybody mention?"

Toothless snorted as he touched down in the cave and disturbed a very fine layer of dust. 'I didn't understand enough. Dragons can learn your language, but usually, that would have to involve spending time around humans. For obvious reasons, we don't tend to do that. But, the Queen liked to take us on raids, so over the years I've picked up some stuff by accident. I know what humans call all of the dragon species that ever went on a raid. Vikings like to yell about what dragon they killed, quite loudly. Seeing enough humans standing over dead Gronckles while yelling 'Gronckle' makes the connection pretty obvious. I don't know a lot, but I bet...' He trailed off.

"Bet what?"

'I was going to say, I bet my mother knows more of your language than I do. The Queen used her almost exclusively until I got old enough to fight. She has had way more time around Vikings than I have. Well, until recently at least.'

Hiccup could tell Toothless wanted to focus on something other than a reminder that his mother was still in captivity. "We should see where this leads." It probably wouldn't lead anywhere, but it would be a distraction.

Toothless, on the other hand, was optimistic about what they would find. 'Yes, this place could be perfect.'

"What makes you think that? For all we know it just ends a few feet in."

'This was probably carved to be the Whispering Death's den. If so, it will be expansive with multiple exits that are well-hidden to Vikings. And these dragons don't like to have to fly through their tunnels, so it will all be sloped, not straight up. If this was made to be a den.'

They moved into the cave. It almost immediately became too dark for Hiccup to see. He stopped. "Toothless, I can't see well enough to move around in here."

In way of reply, the dragon walked back to him, and nudged his head behind him, indicating that he should ride.

Hiccup got on blindly, lay as close to the saddle as possible, and accessed Toothless's senses. He felt better immediately, as the dragon's night vision made the cave seem as if it was moderately well lit. All the tunnels were of uniform radius and in the shape of a circle, unnaturally smooth.

Softly padding through the tunnel, every step echoing subtly, Toothless made his way into the mountainside. The tunnel was straight, and only led to one place. Something that seemed to be a natural cave, rough and adorned with stalactites and stalagmites.

"This must have already been here when the dragon made these other tunnels." Hiccup whispered this because any louder and his voice echoed eerily in the cave. The echoes of Toothless's footsteps were unsettling enough on their own.

There were two other tunnels branching off of this natural center cavern. They took the one to the left, which sloped up, ending in a hole in the side of a small hill, in the middle of the densest part of the forest. The hole was extremely congested by undergrowth, and Toothless chose not to try to force his way through it.

Hiccup could fit through, and he clambered through to see that the tunnel entrance was almost invisible from the outside. It was so deep in the forest that the area immediately around the hill it was dug into was shrouded in shadow. It was very difficult to spot after taking his eyes off of it even though he knew exactly where it should be. Hiccup marked the entrance with a quick flag of sorts, a long branch with leaves only hanging off of one side stuck upright into the ground on top of the hill. It looked distinctive, and would hopefully be recognizable approaching from other angles. He made his way back to Toothless.

'Why did you do that?'

Hiccup smiled, even though the dragon couldn't see it, because they were already backtracking to the central cavern. "If there is another exit, I want to see how far away they are over land, and that was so I could find it again."

The other passage on the right side sloped slightly downwards. This passage also ended without branching off, and also let out into the outside world. It terminated in the wall of a shallow ravine, with a river flowing through, in the direction of the ocean. This exit wasn't congested with plant life because it ended in solid rock instead of an overgrown hill. They followed the stream back and found that the ravine had over time become quite easily sloped due to erosion. There was no difficulty in reaching the rest of the forest.

Toothless and Hiccup took to the air. The ravine was barely visible from through the trees. They circled around the general area for a while, getting their bearings. The other tunnel exit, when they eventually relocated it, was some six hundred feet from the ravine. It was more than far enough away that one couldn't be seen from the other.

'This place will do.' Toothless sounded satisfied as he overlooked the area.

Hiccup had enjoyed exploring the cave, but he had a few reservations about them using it. "Don't you mind that it is so tight?" Most of the tunnels were barely large enough for Toothless to turn around in.

Toothless took them down in a slightly less dense part of the forest. 'Not really, and we wouldn't spend much time there anyway. It really just needs to be a safe place for me to stay, and us to meet up. Now we can fly, so we can relax on other islands or the top of sea stacks. Besides, it is safe and has three exits. One of which no human can enter from the outside. Another that is extremely hidden, and the third is big enough for me to use and means I can leave the cave whenever I need to, whether or not you are there. I don't need this place to be perfect. Also, when I sit and use your senses, I can sit in the cave opening overlooking the sea. That will be a nice change of pace.'

Hiccup only had one more possible issue. Actually, two. "Will you mind if I bring torches with me? I kind of need to see to go anywhere in there. I could eventually attach them to the walls, so it would be easy to see in there, but then I would need to relight them and replace them... that wouldn't work."

Toothless interjected his opinion. 'But you wouldn't need to go in that often. This cave isn't going to be like the cove. I won't want to spend time in there with you, and you won't need to come get me every day. We can just meet in the forest every day. This is just a safe place for me to stay when we aren't doing stuff together.'

Hiccup couldn't argue with that. He guessed that in the back of his mind, he was still trying to find another cove. This though was no cove. That was okay, he was just going to have to get used to it. "What about the saddle?"

Toothless paused. 'We can leave it in... well, I guess you would have to come to the cave every day. Meeting in the forest wouldn't work unless I was already wearing the saddle. We'll figure it out.'

Hiccup laughed. "Of course we will. At least we found somewhere today, so you don't have to sleep in some random hole in the forest tonight."

Toothless chuffed in amusement. 'True. I've done that before. Nothing like waking up to bugs all over you, convinced you're a rock for them to crawl over." He rolled over dramatically, reenacting the scene. Then he stood up "Nice morning snack, though.' He licked his lips.

Hiccup laughed. "How many bugs were there, if a dragon as big as you considered that a snack?"

The dragon shuddered dramatically. 'Hundreds. I think I slept next to an ant colony or something. They have a weird taste. Not bad though.'

Almost at the same moment, Hiccup and Toothless remembered to check the time. The sun was almost finished setting. Toothless hadn't noticed because of his night vision, and Hiccup because he had been in caves or the deepest parts of the forest for most of the afternoon, and hadn't registered the fading light in an open area as that dark in comparison.

"It's almost time." Hiccup's voice was soft.

They flew back to the part of the forest closest to the village that was out of sight of the village itself. However... "Hey, Toothless. Next time, don't fly in this area."

'Why?'

"We might be visible from Mildew's place. He's a grumpy old man that aggravates pretty much everyone. He lives up there."

Hiccup pointed at a hut sitting isolated a bit higher up the mountainside, quite a ways from the village.

Hiccup didn't seem particularly worried, but Toothless was mortified for not seeing it before. He immediately dove into the forest, out of sight.

"Woah! I was going to say, Mildew isn't there right now. He loves dragon-fighting, and now that he's too old to participate in raids, he always shows up for the graduation killing of the Nightmare. He'll be sleeping in the Great Hall tonight and tomorrow night, just like every year. So you're good for now."

They walked to the edge of the forest, not running because they had time to kill. Hiccup wanted to release the dragons an hour before midnight when no one would be around, but before it got too late in the night. The plan was gone over several times, and eventually, they settled in a tree, a few dozen trees back from the edge of the forest. The branch in question was thick enough to support Toothless's weight, and he clung to it with all four feet, like a cat would.

They sat like that, waiting. During that time, they discussed something neither of them wanted to think about.

"What if I get caught? It shouldn't happen, but it could." Hiccup sounded nervous, and he probably would have been kicking his feet if he wasn't still in the saddle.

Toothless snorted. 'It won't. They are all still partying, and you are sneaky enough to sneak up on a dragon. No Viking will see you unless you want to be seen. Besides, I would save you.'

That was what Hiccup was afraid of. "Bud, I'm touched, but if they catch me you can't just run through the village with your fire blazing and expect to make it to me alive. The arena is on the opposite side of the village, and you'll have to stay here while I release the dragons."

Toothless whined in frustration. 'Why can't we just fly to the arena?'

Hiccup had an answer for this one because he had already considered it. "Because. The arena is in a really tricky spot. We could fly there, but it's built into the side of a cliff. The only places you could land would be accessible to Vikings. You would be in more danger than me if they discover you. It would basically be a death sentence if you were found there because there's only one exit by foot and none for you by air without me." All of this was technically true. However, there was more behind Hiccup's reasoning than that alone.

He was pretty sure he wouldn't be caught, but he had to plan for every scenario. If he was caught, he wouldn't be killed immediately. Toothless on the other hand would be. He also knew the dragon had a powerful protective instinct, at least when Hiccup himself was involved. He was pretty sure if he was caught he would be outcast. That, while normally a death sentence for someone of his size and weakness, might have been the best possible punishment for Hiccup at this point. This was because when someone was outcast, they were put out to sea in a rowboat with only a set of paddles, and told never to return, under threat of death. If he was outcast, Hiccup could just row to a beach on the other side of the island, and leave with Toothless. He didn't want to leave Berk, but it would hardly be a punishment.

However, if Toothless was killed trying to rescue him, Hiccup would never forgive himself. Toothless was his only friend, almost a brother to him. Therefore, he wanted Toothless as far away as possible, for his own safety. That way, if Hiccup was captured, he could convince Toothless to just stay away. He couldn't explain any of this though, because he wouldn't lie to Toothless. There was always the slightest possibility the sentencing wouldn't be exile. He couldn't honestly guarantee he would survive being caught freeing the arena dragons.

The best possible solution was to just not get caught. The time was approaching. He had already committed countless acts of treason in the last month. What was a few more? He wasn't sure why this felt different. It might have been because this wasn't a dragon no one knew existed. This was with the dragons the village knew and hated, the ones they enjoyed watching people fight and kill right in the village. And he was going to free them. Just another act of treason, a betrayal of the culture he had been raised in. It didn't bother him. Astrid had told him something, in training that day before he went back to the cove, unknowingly right after his first act of treason. She had said, 'figure out which side you're on.' Hiccup knew which side he was on now.

It wasn't the side of the Vikings. It also wasn't the side of the Queen or the raiding dragons fighting because they had no choice. They were the victims and a Tyrant. He was fighting to free them, but until he did, they would oppose him, because they had no choice. He was on a third side. One that consisted of a sum total of two people in the world. Himself, and Toothless.

They were against the Queen. It was unclear if he could convince the Vikings to not be against his third side. If they knew about it now, they would surely oppose him as a traitor. He really believed that to have a chance, he needed to end the Queen. But that wasn't why he was doing this. This wouldn't help end the Queen. The Vikings didn't know it, but this could be seen as an act of war. A declaration of war, by his third faction. He didn't want to fight them, just like he didn't want to fight the enslaved dragons, but in both situations, he had no choice. They, or in this case Stoick and the whole Viking culture, were forcing his hand. This wasn't about stopping the Queen, this was about doing what was right. He wouldn't kill that Nightmare, and he wouldn't let anyone else kill it. And so, a declaration of war.

Not on the Vikings, he now realized, though they would think so. On the Viking way. They would fight to protect it, just like the enslaved dragons would fight to protect the Queen. There were so many similarities here that it made Hiccup's head spin. A powerful, persuasive entity on each end, forcing and seducing both sides into a bloody war. Both sides fought for something that wasn't right, something driving them into worthless conflict. The differences though, few as they actually were, were important. The dragon's forcing entity was a creature, a person. Something that could be stopped with force. The Vikings' entity, on the other hand, wasn't a physical thing. It was an idea, a way of life ingrained into each person, just like the Queen was in each of her slaves. The Queen could hypothetically be killed with force or fire. If that happened, all of her slaves would be free. And they would be happy with that. For the Vikings, it wasn't going to be nearly as easy, if it was possible at all. There was no central target to attack with force and fire in an idea, and the Vikings, far from hating it, would cling to it as their way of life. Freeing the Vikings might be impossible because the vast majority of them didn't want to be freed.

In both cases, there was one present exception. Hiccup and Toothless had both escaped their mental entrapment. Hiccup because he couldn't find it in himself to fit into the ideal, and Toothless because he had been freed through luck. And so they formed the third side. The one dedicated to destroying both evil influences. If they could. Hiccup had no plan for the Queen, but he at least knew that it could die. How did one destroy an idea? Or even replace it, if the ones holding on to it didn't want to let go? Unlike the Queen, there was no way around the individuals protecting the influence. They each had their own little copy of the Viking way ingrained in them, and to fix it in one didn't affect the others. To fix that would be to convince each Viking individually to let go. It was the equivalent of if Hiccup, in order to save all of the enslaved dragons, had to shoot each and every one down separately with his bola launcher. Possibly an impossible task. And the entire time, he would be vulnerable to those he had not yet reached.

That was the reason he wouldn't reveal what was going on until after the Queen was gone. Because he wanted to approach the near-impossible task he understood how to deal with first.

Toothless nudged him and craned his head to look back at him. It was time.

**_Responses to Guest Reviews:_ **

**To a review from a guest who titled themself asNoOnE: That's a reluctant 'no' on increasing update frequency. As a reader, I personally like as many updates as quickly as possible. As a writer, once a week is basically the sweet spot for me. Enough time to get feedback, but not too long between chapters. And enough time to make sure I keep building up my stored up material. Starting Anew is a great example. I can run two stories simultaneously with no pressure on myself, because I wrote Starting Anew while this story was being published at its current pace. In the future, I may have even more stories running in tandem with this system. I _definitely_** **have no shortage of inspirations to draw from. The stuff on my profile page is enough for years to come, and that isn't even everything.**

**As for how I came up with the sharing of senses idea, it was actually inspired by something totally different. I noticed that HTTYD AUs generally spent far more writing time in the cove than village over the course of the first movie's plot. Analysis of that led me to believe that it was because the village scenes are… wait for it… boring. Unless there's some interesting side-plot, the cove scenes are generally more interesting. Which brought me to consider how to make village scenes more interesting. That eventually spawned the idea. And the entire story… snowballed. Ridiculously. More of an avalanche, really.**

**To the guest who said: CAnt wait for more. Loving the slightly crazy/insane Astrid vibe too.**

**Glad to hear it. This was a plot twist I wasn't sure would be well received. I know a certain story that depicted Astrid far less extremely actually received borderline harrassing repeat comments from one particular guest. I wondered if I'd get the same. That being said, I always felt that Astrid never lives up to her potential (in a very twisted way.) Well, potential as a villain, anyway. I swear, I'm not against Astrid as a character, though looking at my stories both complete and in progress, I really don't treat her character very well. Insane and evil, a thousand years dead, not in the same world(literally), unimportant to the plot, etc. I have maybe one story in progress that depicts her as both relevant and a good character. And that one isn't even progressed enough to be on my profile page.**


	14. Chapter 14

_**Author's Note:** _ **Ah, a momentous occasion, for two reasons. First, the much-anticipated (by me) chapter fourteen! This might be the second big turning point in the story, the first being chapter nine.**

**The other reason is more entertaining to me personally. I received a staggering total of two guesses as to my age, gender, occupation, and in one case nationality. Two. Interestingly, they were almost polar opposites, in every way aside from age.**

**And they were both wrong. I am most definitely not a Russian woman with a desk job or a bouncer with free time and a wasted college education. Great guesses though!**

**In complete honesty, I am much less interesting. 18, male, American. Just starting college in the last two weeks, enjoying a true uninterrupted internet connection for the first time in my life. I plan to be a Material Engineer, which means all of this is completely irrelevant towards my future. That might be why I enjoy it so much. Well, enough about the author. No one really cares about the author's biography unless said author is famous (or infamous). On with what everyone came here to see.**

Hiccup hopped off of Toothless's back and took two small, thin metal rods out of the saddlebag. The levers that opened the pens had no lock, but the big gate that was the exit to the arena did. Finding Gobber's key for the gate should prove simple enough, so the rods were just a backup plan. He had been taught how to pick locks by a childhood friend from another village when she and her mother visited Berk. Their tribe visited every three years, but she hadn't been with them when they showed up last year. He hadn't seen her in over four years now and rarely thought of her, so he wasn't sure if she still counted as a friend. He was probably rusty at picking locks, but that was why it was just the backup plan.

He moved over to face Toothless, and look him in the eyes. "Don't worry. I'll be fine. Besides, you'll be watching the whole thing, right? You'll probably know about any dangers before I do."

'Your village doesn't stand a chance of catching you. You're sneaky, fast, smart, and have a Night Fury giving you advice. Now go, and don't make me a liar by getting caught!'

Hiccup laughed softly and scratched the dragon's head before turning and setting out through the fringe of the forest. He could feel the large green eyes on his back. He made his way into the village.

The village was dark and empty except for the unlucky few on night patrol, armed with lanterns that destroyed their night vision in exchange for light for all of three feet. They wouldn't be an issue unless they got really close. And that wasn't going to happen, because Hiccup could see them coming from halfway across the village. He moved quickly and silently, making his way to the bridge that led to the arena. Here was where it got a bit risky. Hiccup's silhouette was distinctively slim among the massive Berkians, and he really did not want to be seen crossing this particular bridge on the night the dragons were let loose. He stopped in a shadow, and slowly turned in a full circle, checking with his own eyes for any watchers. Toothless also checked through Hiccup's vision. 'Nothing I can see.'

Hiccup still hadn't wanted to risk his silhouette. So, as they had planned beforehand, he crawled across the bridge on his hands and knees. now his outline would just be a small, not very human looking blob. He made it across the bridge in a few heart-stoppingly long minutes. He had made it to the arena.

Now for the tricky part. The moon was only partially covered by the shifting clouds. This meant that the ambient light level was shifting. Right now, it was just light enough in the stone arena's outside area to see the racks of practice weapons. They were here because Gobber left them here, too lazy to put them back after every training. Besides, who would steal blunted training weapons? There were blunt knives, axes, a few swords, and one unusual object, all hanging on the sharp weapons rack. The unusual object was Gobber's blunted training hook. Hiccup had noticed he used a different hook when teaching, mostly because Gobber had yanked a Gronckle by the inside of its mouth to save Hiccup from a blast the first day of training. Hiccup had noticed that the hook had no blood on it, and from there noticed that it was blunted. He had asked Gobber about it.

That was how he knew it existed. He knew it would be here because he had seen Gobber remove it, but not take it with him when he left the arena. As to why it was important, that was something Gobber probably thought no one knew. There was a hidden compartment where the prosthetic fit over his stump. Hiccup had helped Gobber make this part of the prosthetics once, a few years ago, and Gobber had explained that it was for things like hidden knives and the like. Hiccup knew, though Gobber never told him, "the like" meant stuff like playing cards. Gobber never had an ace up his sleeve, but he sometimes had one inside his arm.

After that, it was simple logic. Gobber had a key, but Hiccup never saw him use it. Gobber also had no pockets and was terrible at remembering where he kept things. So, where would he store a key he would always have to have on him in the arena, but only then?

Hiccup pulled the prosthetic off of the rack and flipped it so that the hook end pointed down. There was a little shine of metal, poking out from between the metal bowl and leather padding where the prosthetic was in contact with the stump.

'Tricky.' Toothless was impressed. He hadn't thought the old man was that smart, from what he had seen, though Hiccup had assured him that he was much smarter than he looked.

"But not tricky enough." Hiccup grinned, holding the key. That had been a gamble, even if it made sense in his head. He was glad he wouldn't have to rely on his rusty lockpicking skills. He opened the main gate to the arena, and in defiance of all tradition, left it open. It was now a straight shot to freedom. Hiccup went over to the area over the levers. He looked at them. They weren't labeled, but that didn't matter. He was planning to open them all anyway.

'Start with the Terror.' Hiccup knew why Toothless said that, and he had no problems with that. He pulled the lever he assumed was connected to the Terror's pen, as both the lever and pen were on the far left. HIs assumption about how they worked was correct, and the pulley system groaned as it lifted the log that held the small flap of the Terror cage closed.

The Terror flew out, and both Toothless and Hiccup sighed in relief. It had been one of the Terrors that followed them back to Berk. It looked around in confusion, saw Hiccup, saw the open path to freedom, and left. It flew around Hiccup's head a few times, and then took off. Away from Berk entirely. Hopefully, it was going to find the other two it had been with. Hiccup silently wished him luck.

Now for the others. Hiccup opened the gate for the Nightmare next. The dragon burst out, wreathed in flames, but it looked confused. It saw that Hiccup was alone, outside the arena. It also saw the open gate, just as the Terror had. What was different this time was that the dragon made eye contact with Hiccup for several seconds, not moving towards freedom.

'He's thanking you. He doesn't know you have me translating, but he's thanking you even though he thinks you can't hear him.'

Hiccup felt he had to respond. "You're welcome. Now get out of here!" He gestured towards the sky.

The Nightmare got the message, and walked out of the arena, and leaped into the air. It had put out its flames, and the moon was almost completely covered at the moment, so it would have been impossible to see from a distance. The dragon flew into the night, heading south. Directly away from Helheim's gate, and the Queen. It stood to reason, actually, that all of the arena dragons had been knocked unconscious at least once at some point, and thus all were free from the Queen.

The Nadder did almost the same thing as the Nightmare, thanking Hiccup as a sign of respect before flying west. Hiccup was about to let the Zippleback out when an explosion rocked the village.

Hiccup froze, and Toothless told him what was happening even as the distinctive horn was blown.

'The Queen is raiding. Tonight, of all nights! Hurry up and get back to the forest!'

Hiccup yanked all of the remaining levers at once and watched anxiously as the Gronckle and Zippleback looked around in confusion. "Get out, quickly!" Hiccup yelled at them. They started at his voice, noticed the open gate, and heard the raid, pretty much simultaneously. They bolted and flew as fast as their respective species could fly, again straight south.

That was Hiccup's mission accomplished. Now he had to get back to Toothless. By going through Berk in the middle of a raid. Actually, did he? He could just stay here, and get to Toothless after the raid was-

'HICCUP!' Toothless sounded more than worried, he was frantic, and his fear was tinged with excitement now. 'Look through my senses!'

Hiccup did so, and he could see the raiding dragons fairly clearly through Toothless's eyes. That was when he heard it. That signature whine, building... He knew exactly what Toothless wanted him to see, and it hurt him that neither of them had considered this possibility before. This was something they should have considered, made a plan for, waited for. He saw the Night Fury blaze through the sky, and destroy the one watch-tower that had been fully repaired and functioning. That was the only real target worthy of a Night Fury at the moment, so soon after the last raid. Hiccup remembered past raids, where the Night Fury had disappeared and apparently left after it had destroyed all viable targets. Toothless probably had been intending to leave after destroying that last watchtower the night he had been shot down. Rather, the Queen probably had. He knew he probably wouldn't make it to Toothless in time to stop her from leaving. Toothless knew it too.

'Mom...' Toothless's voice was soft and sad.

But with that, Hiccup knew he had to try. There was still a tiny chance he might make it in time. And he couldn't tell Toothless not to try and save his mother, not when she was right there. He couldn't not try. His loyalty to his friend wouldn't let him. He broke into a full sprint, no longer caring who might see him as he passed over the bridge. Not that anyone would. The village was in the middle of a raid after all. "Toothless, if I have any chance of getting to you before she leaves, you need to help me now!" This was true, but it would also stop Toothless from trying to meet Hiccup in the middle of the village. That path of action only led to his death.

'I will.'

Hiccup leaped off of the end of the bridge and began running through the middle of a war zone. At full speed. Fire was everywhere, in all forms and intensities. Dragons were also everywhere, fighting off Vikings wherever he turned. This raid was more destructive and bloody than any in the recent past, as the Queen had ordered her slaves to destroy as well as steal this time, in retribution for the death of one of her two favorite thralls.

Hiccup didn't know that and didn't care. He ran through it all, taking the most direct route unless it was entirely impassible. He, with Toothless's frantic instructions, ran as a Night Fury would, with agility and foresight. Not many villagers would remember that night clearly, but of the few who did had a story to tell about hallucinations that night. They spoke of Hiccup, running faster than they had ever seen him move. Running, not in fear, but in what they would swear seemed pure determination.

They knew it wasn't real, they said, because of the way he moved. He moved with none of his usual clumsiness, but with sure footing in the middle of chaos. He leaped burning logs, ducked flying blades hurled by Vikings at dragons, and did it all as if he knew what was coming ahead of time, and had practiced for it. That was enough to dismiss as hallucinations in itself, the strange prewarning and practice he seemed to have, but some would swear they saw even more impossible things. Ack swore no matter how much anyone laughed in the years to come that he had hallucinated that he saw Hiccup running, but a Nightmare landed, completely blocking his path by pure coincidence, mere feet away. He swore that in his hallucination he saw Hiccup fully leap off of the ground, landing in a roll on the other side of the dragon, having jumped under its head and over its lowered wing-claw, right between the two. the Nightmare had stopped, utterly dumbfounded by the action, and stared at the running boy's retreating form. That might have had to do with the fact that as Hiccup passed right under the Nightmare's head, the dragon had caught a whiff of Night Fury, but Ack didn't know that.

Astrid was another who saw something she had thought impossible, though she kept it to herself, and knew it was no hallucination, unlike Ack.

She had been working with the fire brigade, seething with hidden rage because she wasn't allowed to fight yet (among other things) when she had caught sight of Hiccup. He was running. He was running straight at, and as Astrid watched, straight through a burning house, in the front door and out the back, moments before the roof collapsed. But he wasn't fleeing anything, like previous raids. The sight of him running like this pulled bad memories of the chase to Astrid's head once more. That had been impressive, the ease at which he moved through tangled forest debris. This would be, for anyone but Astrid, jaw-dropping coming from Hiccup.

This couldn't be argued, because unbeknownst to Astrid, Fishlegs' jaw was currently doing its best to dislocate itself, his bucket pouring out unnoticed on a small fire that had started on his foot, saving his shoe and the foot inside it. His analytical mind was trying to process Hiccup, the boy with a clumsiness factor of seven and an intelligence factor of twelve, dodging the movements of fire and flame as if he understood them completely. In reality, Toothless was in his element as a dragon instinctively understood fire better than any human could. But to Fishlegs, it was Hiccup who was predicting and countering the seemingly random movement of flame as he ran full speed through the street full of burning debris and liquid fire that was unique to Nightmares. He at one point leaped straight through a wall of flame, just as the wind caused it to flicker enough that this didn't burn him. He was literally running through an inferno and hadn't even been singed yet.

Actually, Hiccup had been burned multiple times, but Fishlegs didn't see that.

Fishlegs only saw Hiccup outthink and outrun fire itself. He mentally decided to give Hiccup a score in the category of 'fire'. He felt it was appropriate, though that category was reserved for dragons, not humans who had no firepower and who Fishlegs had always assumed had no affinity with that element. Hiccup got a twenty, the maximum, as the only human Fishlegs had ever seen do anything like that. It threw the scoring out of whack for the dragons, almost none of which had a perfect twenty, but Fishlegs would sort that out later. Hiccup had run out of view, and Fishlegs was snapped out of his statistic bookkeeping when his other shoe caught on fire.

Hiccup ran, and to him, while he would look back later in awe, at the moment he just wasn't moving fast enough. He had been burned in various places, and it was slowing him down, though he ignored the pain. For all of his newfound agility and built up endurance and speed, he was still a human. His maximum speed would never be as fast as Toothless, and right now he just wasn't fast enough. He wasn't quick enough. He knew this as he took dangerous shortcuts, as he leaped past dragons instead of avoiding them, as he ran through buildings rather than go around, as he didn't even bother to make any attempt at hiding his skill and apparent unnatural precognition from the rest of the village. Despite all this, despite the dragon giving him instructions that let him move more accurately than he could have hoped and predictions on how the fire would move, despite his training, he was still human. And no human could have made it to Toothless in time for them to catch his mother before the Queen withdrew that night.

But he had tried. He knew this as he heard no more Fury plasma blasts, as Toothless's voice in his head lost hope, though never faltered. He had done all that he could, and he had made it to Toothless faster than any other Viking currently on Berk could have. He had done that, at least. He had tried his best. It was the least he owed his friend, and he had delivered on that.

Toothless rushed to meet Hiccup as he stumbled into the cover of the forest. He crouched, and sprung into the air as soon as Hiccup settled into the saddle.

"Bud, she must be gone by now." Hiccup spoke softly but urgently as they raced into the sky, searching for the distinctive black dragon.

'I have to keep looking!' Toothless wasn't going to give up, despite the futility of the search. His mother was likely already well on her way back to the nest.

And then his prosthetic stopped responding. Or rather, Hiccup did. It was very disorienting, as if a part of him had just gone numb. Hiccup moved the prosthetic so naturally he always forgot he wasn't moving it himself.

"We can't afford to be seen. By Vikings or the Queen's thralls."

At that moment the raid began to break, the enthralled raiders beginning to move away from the village, heading North. Toothless was faltering in midair, but as soon as he chose to drop out of sight, Hiccup resumed his operation of the fin. They landed softly a few dozen yards into the forest.

Hiccup hated using the tailfin to force Toothless to do anything. But it had been necessary. He dismounted slowly, favoring the burns he had acquired.

Toothless interrupted Hiccup's thoughts by licking his arm. He didn't react immediately, and only vaguely noticed that the dragon was treating his burns with his saliva. The pain was already fading in the burns Toothless started with, but Hiccup barely registered the numbing sensation.

Toothless noticed that Hiccup was burned more than he had thought in several places, his lower legs and forearms mostly, where his clothing had briefly caught before he smacked it out while running. He quickly rushed to treat those more serious burns first, feeling horrible that his friend had gotten hurt rushing on his behalf, and all for nothing. He was also touched. Hiccup had demonstrated that he would literally run through fire if Toothless needed him to, and without a second thought. He had followed all of Toothless's advice, trusting that the dragon wouldn't get him burned, clawed, or cut in the frantic race.

Hiccup sighed sadly. "I wasn't fast enough. I'm sorry."

Toothless stopped and whacked Hiccup with his tailfin, making sure to hit with the natural side, and to not hit any burns. 'You were fast. There wasn't time. The Queen had no reason to stick around.' Toothless refused to let Hiccup blame himself. He also refused to let Hiccup see his own disappointment. He crooned softly before continuing. 'And don't think it's your fault we weren't together. If anything, the only one to blame for that is...' Toothless wasn't sure he should go there.

Hiccup had no such reservations. "Stoick. If he hadn't moved the final test and Nightmare to now, we might have been able to get to her. But we had no plan." Hiccup considered that. "We had no plan. And we might have wasted our best advantage. If we had tried something and failed, the Queen would know that you're still alive. That you will be coming for your mom. She would be wary. Right now, our best bet is the element of surprise, and we can only use that once."

The raid was breaking up entirely now. The few remaining dragons were disengaging and flying off in the direction of the nest. Hiccup only had a few minutes before he would need to put in an appearance in the village so that no search parties were sent or questions asked about where he had been. But there was something he needed to say first, face to face. "Toothless. We will think of a plan. And once we do..."

Toothless finished the thought. 'We'll get her back. And the three of us can attack the Queen together. We'll think quickly, so we can do it during the next raid. The Queen has no other Night Furies, she'll bring her for sure.'

Hiccup grinned. "That we will." He turned to go join the village in searching for the wounded among the destruction and chaos left behind.

Toothless called out to him before he left. 'Hiccup!' He turned. The dragon met his eyes. 'Thank you for trying. I know it was hopeless from the start, and you risked your life and secrets being discovered to help anyway.'

Hiccup had the perfect answer for this. "That's what friends do for each other. And we are friends."

'No.' Toothless sounded thoughtful. 'I think brothers is more accurate.'

Hiccup agreed. "Yes, it is. Brothers." He returned to the village that no longer felt like his own, and spent the rest of the night helping villagers. He worked alongside Stoick, the father he could never be like in any way, and didn't want to be anymore. Outwardly, he was a perfect member of the village, focused on helping what appeared to be his people. But in reality, he was plotting with his brother. He couldn't be further from being a member of his village in his head.

The Vikings had yet to check the dragon pens and the arena. No one knew that not only a raid had occurred that night. Not yet.

**_Author's Note:_ ** **In response to the guest NoOne, who said; 'Also, I would like to mention one more thing. I know that what I'm about to ask isn't going to happen in the next few chapters but are you planning to get hiccup and Astrid together? I understand that insane maniac Astrid is important to the plot but it feels a bit weird since their relationship is a core part of the httyd story. But that's just my opinion. This is your fanfic and you can do with it as you wish but you're a great author and I know you'll come up with more great chapters in the future :)'**

**Uhh, no? Definitely, without a shadow of a doubt, no. She's only going to get worse, albeit slowly. And honestly, I personally feel the only core part of HTTYD is the interactions between Hiccup and Toothless. Everything else is secondary. This story, and the one that will follow, _Living Anonymously,_** **will develop Astrid along the way though. She does have a character arc… but it does not involve dragons in a good way.**

**(And I'm not at this time ruling out alternative pairings for either Astrid or Hiccup at some point in one of these stories. I might have something planned, or nothing at all. You'll see eventually, if you stick around. For all you guys know, she might up married to Snotlout, or something equally far-fetched. I promise to make it believable, and not out of the blue, if I do anything with that kind of development. Or maybe all of this is a bunch of Red Herrings.)**


	15. Chapter 15

"THE ARENA DRAGONS ARE GONE!"

It was the early morning, and the entire village had endured a sleepless night in the aftermath of one of the most vicious raids anyone could remember. The death toll had been higher than normal, and half the village had been destroyed.

Hiccup slowly helped in picking up the charred debris. The lethargic, stumbling excuse for work was the best he could do after having run himself ragged. His dash of death had left him feeling like his lungs were going to pop and his chest was going to collapse all at once. Still, with all his training and conditioning, even through his lack of sleep, he was still the most perky and responded first to the shout.

'Try to look angry, if you can. Remember, you've just heard your 'ultimate accomplishment in the making' is gone.' Toothless was trying to help, but now Hiccup had to repress a smile, which he tried to turn into a realistic grimace.

"Quoting Snotlout doesn't help me act serious."

'I was quoting Snotlout? Pardon me while I go wash my mouth in the river.'

"Seriously, I need to look mad, not happy. Save them for later." Hiccup tried to act angry.

'Sorry.'

Before anyone could say anything, Stoick spoke up. "What was that?"

A man ran up to Stoick, tremulous and doubling over to catch his breath.

Hiccup didn't recognize him on sight. He felt a slight twinge of contempt, which he ruthlessly stamped out as soon as he recognized what it was. He would never let himself become like half the Vikings on Berk, scornful of those with less physical ability. Wow. Not something Hiccup ever thought he'd have to stop himself from doing. He returned his attention to the out-of-breath Viking, who was slightly less in danger of dropping now. Vikings might be strong, but nowhere is it said that they are good distance runners.

The Viking finally elaborated while still gasping for air. "Me'n Hoark... went to check the pens... all the doors are open... dragons all gone... someone let them out!"

Stoick's face was turning an unhealthy shade of red, and the people around him braced for the vocal explosion that was sure to follow.

Hiccup covered his ears. He wanted to not be deafened entirely.

But Stoick didn't explode. He asked in a scarily calm voice one simple, hopefully for Hiccup unanswerable, question. "Who?"

The Viking had no idea. He shrugged. It really could have been anyone. Hiccup had covered his personal tracks quite well, having returned Gobber's dulled hook arm and key back to exactly how he had found them.

Stoick realized an answer was not forthcoming. Now he shouted. "GATHER EVERYONE IN THE GREAT HALL!" A distant flock of birds fluttered into the air and flew away.

'I think I heard that from here.' Toothless was exaggerating, as he had journeyed back to the cave at Hiccup's insistence that he not stay near the village while Vikings cut down trees to rebuild houses.

However, Hiccup believed that if Stoick shouted from the top of the island's mountains, he would be heard throughout the entire island. He just wasn't high enough right now for his voice to carry quite far enough for Toothless to be serious.

Stoick stormed off to the Great Hall with Gobber trailing behind. Hiccup followed the crowd there, doing his best to look angry. To do that, he just remembered the things Stoick had said about him the morning after returning from the nest hunt. That did the trick, maybe a little too well. Now he was angry at Stoick in particular, and that didn't fit the situation. He tried to focus on more general sources of anger, and that worked a little better. He made sure to keep his face fixed in that expression. Concentrate on appearance, and hope they jump to the wrong conclusions. That was what he needed to do.

Once the entire village of ash-stained, tired Vikings had gathered, Stoick stood on a table. "Vikings of Berk! Last night, while we were fighting off the raid, someone released all of the caged dragons in the arena!"

There was an angry roar from the crowd.

"QUIET! Now, we all know none of us would do such a thing. But, did anyone see anything suspicious around the arena lately?"

Silence. No one had. Hiccup looked around, and noticed two Vikings guarding the doors. If there were accusations, no one was leaving or sneaking out. Which was likely why Stoick had called them all here in the first place.

"Okay. No one saw anything last night either?"

Again there was silence. Hiccup tried not to show his relief. If any Viking suspected him, they would accuse him then and there if they had proof. He was safe for now.

"Alright then. This wouldn't be the first time someone like Alvin the Treacherous has decided to strike under the cover of night. We would have caught him if he hadn't got lucky with a raid as a distraction. Next time, he won't be so lucky!"

The crowd cheered. Hiccup tuned out Stoick's obligatory string of promises involving revenge, death, and gory ends for any Outcast that dares step on the shores of Berk. He only snapped back to attention when someone asked about Hiccup and the Nightmare. Stoick's reply was exactly what Hiccup had figured it would be.

"Well, we'll just have to catch another one then. A bigger and fiercer one, to make up for the extra time my son'll have to train!" His next announcement, however, was a complete surprise. And not a good one. "And that reminds me. We have focused so heavily on fighting dragons, we need to remember we have human enemies too! Gobber, I want you to continue dragon training. But make it weapons and Viking vs. Viking training, instead."

Gobber laughed. "Sure thing Stoick, bu' we might wanna come up with a better name than tha'. Doesn't roll of tha tongue like dragon trainin'. I'll think abou' that." He addressed the crowd. "All ye dragon trainin' recruits listen up! I know yer in there somewhere. Be at the arena tomorrow wit' yer weapon o' choice and a shield!"

'I don't like the sound of that.'

Hiccup agreed wholeheartedly. One of the things he had been looking forward to most, the end of the sporadic training sessions with the other teens, was apparently being extended. And Viking vs. Viking probably meant they would be expected to hurt each other. Snotlout did that for fun, and he didn't even want to consider Astrid now...

Hiccup left the Great Hall in a daze, his lack of sleep and earlier exertion slowly catching up to him. He just wanted to get out of the village for a while, but Gobber would probably want him to help in the forge.

He hadn't even made it down the stairs of the Great Hall when Toothless spoke up. 'Someone's coming up behind you. Not moving very fast though.'

Hiccup was grateful for the warning. He turned around wearily.

It turned out to be Fishlegs. "Hiccup! Astrid said to tell you that she wants you to meet us behind my house after lunch today."

Hiccup really didn't want to do anything of the sort, but if he refused, it would look really strange, and he couldn't afford to draw attention to himself in any way, now more than ever. "Is this another lie? Will I get there, only to find out that it's just Snotlout ready to beat me up, or some other trick? Because if it is, I think I'll pass." He spoke with just a hint of bitterness.

Fishlegs had the decency to look ashamed. "No, I swear that's exactly what she said to tell you. On my honor."

Hiccup believed this, mostly because Fishlegs didn't seem nervous like he had the last time something like this happened. "Alright, I got the message. I guess I'll be there."

Fishlegs walked away, and Hiccup resumed his journey to the forge. He had guessed correctly, and Gobber shoved a pile of blunted axes into his arms as soon as he walked through the door. Which, he had pointed out, was not the safest thing to do. Gobber was too overworked to care. Hiccup spent the rest of the time between then and lunch doing various things in the smithy, and discussing the upcoming meeting with Toothless. And of course, because he was dead tired, sneaking in an hour or so of sleep between repairs. Gobber was suspiciously absent for about the same amount of time, so Hiccup knew he wasn't alone in that particular decision.

After talking it over, they decided that Toothless would walk over to a hiding spot he knew that was a few minutes away from the meeting point Astrid had specified. That way, he would be close enough to interfere if something went horribly wrong, but not close enough to be detected. Toothless was taking no chances. And Hiccup didn't mind. Anything involving Astrid was dangerous, now. Just because he thought he had her figured out didn't mean he should bet on it.

Eventually, Hiccup and Gobber prepared to take a lunch break, and Gobber agreed to let Hiccup come back late. Well, once Hiccup told him he was going to be meeting the others for something. "Ach, can't have ye makin' Astrid any more mad, now can we?"

The way Gobber said that made Hiccup feel slightly guilty. The old man had basically been a surrogate father to him, and he probably felt worse about lying to Gobber than to Stoick. He decided to tell Gobber one small part of the truth. "I don't really care anymore."

Gobber was a bit surprised. Hiccup had pined after Astrid for as long as he could remember. He figured that Hiccup was trying to get her attention, the way he had been acting towards her recently. But this... "Lad, ya sound like ya don't like her anymore. Is it Ragnarok? Last night mighta been the start..."

Hiccup sighed. "I really don't care about her anymore." He could tell that much of the truth to his mentor. Even though he couldn't say why. Who knew how Gobber would take the news that he had discovered Astrid was slightly insane, a cold-hearted killer, and planning on finishing him off if the Nightmare didn't? That would be far too much, and it would make Gobber way too suspicious if he believed even half of those claims. But he could tell Gobber the result.

"Ach, ye'll find another one." That was the sum total of Gobber's advice.

Hiccup thought about it. Right now, that was the furthest thing from his mind. There was surviving in a hostile village, escaping Astrid, rescuing Toothless's mother, killing the Queen, maybe changing the minds of the people of Berk, and after all of that he had one more goal, though Toothless didn't know it yet. If they could do all of that, Hiccup wanted to go with Toothless and find the rest of his family. Who knew where they were now, or if they were even still alive, but if Toothless had other family, Hiccup wanted to go with him to find them. If he could do all of that, finding a girl that he liked who wasn't an enemy of dragons or a stone-cold killer shouldn't be so hard. At least, in comparison.

'I'll help you with that when all of this is over. We can search villages really fast if we fly.'

Hiccup wanted to laugh. Toothless was offering to help him find a girlfriend. He figured he owed the dragon one if they survived this, and he really did that. He mumbled his reply as he returned to sharpening the last ax of the pile. "You do that, and I'll return the favor. If we find a girl Night Fury, you can pretend to fight me off or something to look good."

'That would end in you getting killed later when I introduced you two, assuming it worked in the first place. And probably me too, depending on who we tricked with that. I'll figure out some other way for you to help that doesn't get me killed.' Toothless seemed quite amused by the idea.

Hiccup laughed softly, so as to not draw attention to himself. His lunch was gone far too quickly, and with a nervous stomach, he set out to Fishlegs' house, which was situated not far from the forge, also bordering the forest. He could see from a distance that everyone but Astrid was already there. He knew Toothless was in his spot, within a minute of them if he ran, ready if things got too bad. Hiccup joined the group, which stood in silence.

It was broken when Ruffnut glanced at Hiccup, then did a double take. "Hiccup, doesn't that hurt like crazy?" She was pointing at his arm, where a burn mark was clearly visible, and his blistered skin where the sleeve had burned away. It was the worst of the burns he had received running last night, and it didn't hurt much at all, thanks to Toothless's saliva. That stuff was really powerful on humans.

Hiccup shrugged. "Nah, I've gotten worse from working in the forge." That was a flat out lie.

The group was silent again, though Fishlegs was eyeing Hiccup's burn oddly. Hiccup didn't know that Fishlegs was inwardly debating whether to amend Hiccup's 'fire' rating. Fishlegs eventually decided against it. The rating didn't need to take into account that Hiccup could still be hurt by fire, so could most dragons if it was hot enough. He left Hiccup's score at twenty. And decided to ask Hiccup about it sometime if he could get him alone for a few minutes.

Astrid surprised the group a moment later. She accomplished this by walking out of the forest, instead of coming from the village. "Follow me." That was all she said, before going back into the forest. They all followed with varying amounts of confusion and anticipation.

Or in Hiccup's case, worry. He had a sinking feeling he knew where Astrid was leading them. That feeling was confirmed as they walked. Toothless started growling in Hiccup's head shortly after, as he realized where she was leading them. 'She's taking them there. Hasn't she polluted that place enough?'

Hiccup privately agreed. She was taking a group that included his greatest tormentor to one of the few places he had felt safe in. It didn't really change anything, but it still aggravated him. It also worried him. All she knew was that he used to spend time there. She probably thought he still did. What was she going to say when they got there?

She stopped in front of the hidden entrance and waited while Fishlegs caught up. Everyone except Astrid and Hiccup was out of breath.

Hiccup actually had to restrain himself on the way there. He wasn't used to the trip taking this long. She wordlessly showed them the entrance, and they filed through after her, Fishlegs going in first in case he got stuck. He did, and they pushed him through like a cork. He was lucky it was a short passageway. That would have been a painful experience if they had had to push him more than a couple of inches. Eventually, they all had reached the floor of the cove.

Hiccup took note of their reactions.

Fishlegs was too busy being shoved to notice at first. "Wow. This place is really well hidden." He considered his difficulty in entering. "But a bit tight in spots."

Ruffnut and Tuffnut were silent for a few moments. "Man, think of all the pranks we could have pulled if we had a secret base like this!" Tuffnut seemed put out.

Ruffnut agreed. "Astrid, why'd you have to show everyone this place? We really could have used this, but now it's worthless!"

Hiccup winced at that last part. Ruffnut was right, this place wasn't nearly as good when other people knew about it. He had already learned that lesson.

Snotlout was the last to see the cove. "What's so great about this?"

Astrid was sitting on top of the same boulder as when Toothless had found her in the cove. She pulled out a whetstone, just like then. But this time she knew she had an audience. When she spoke, her tone was ice. "I've gathered us all here today for a reason. We deserve answers."

Hiccup wanted to panic. This sounded really, really bad. Toothless was still close, but if he had to intervene, they could never come back to Berk. And that would make saving Toothless's mother way harder. And there was no guarantee he could rescue Hiccup if things turned bad. The walls of the cove meant Toothless was far more vulnerable here, especially when he needed Hiccup on his back to leave.

Astrid continued talking, slowly sharpening her ax as she did. "We deserve answers about how the most worthless heir in history somehow went from last to first in dragon training. About what he's been doing all this time alone in the woods these last few weeks. About what he's been doing here." Astrid gestured to the remains of Hiccup's fires.

"Woah, this is Hiccup's secret hideout?" Tuffnut was stunned. "Dude, this place is awesome! Why did you never show us?!"

Ruffnut punched him in the elbow. "Why would he? He probably comes here to get away from people."

Hiccup's opinion of Ruffnut as a clone of Tuffnut (and vice versa) was shaken by this, and a few other events recently. Ruff definitely was more perceptive than her brother. He made sure to remember that. If he survived the next few minutes.

Snotlout was entirely behind Astrid's speech so far. "Yeah, very good questions."

Fishlegs raised his hand. "Uh, if we're asking about Hiccup, how does he run like last night?" Fishlegs figured this wasn't the best time to ask, but he might get a straight answer right now, with Astrid pressuring Hiccup. He also was curious about the answers to the other questions.

Hiccup gulped.

Snotlout just had to interject. "Running like what?"

Astrid was glaring at Fishlegs. She slowly spoke. "A while ago, while training was still going, I wanted to ask Hiccup some of these questions. But he ran. So, I chased him into the woods."

"What does that have to do with anything?" Snotlout was annoyed that Astrid seemed to be backing Fishlegs up.

Astrid whipped her ax around to point at Snotlout. "Shut up and listen. This is important. You guys might not believe Fishlegs, but what I'm about to tell you is the complete truth, no exaggerations."

Snotlout nodded.

Hiccup inched towards the exit of the cove. This was getting really bad. They were going to demand answers. He should just run.

Snotlout grabbed Hiccup's arm, holding him in his strong grip. Hiccup flinched away, but he couldn't get Snotlout to break his grip.

"What are you doing Snotlout?" Tuffnut was confused.

"He was gonna run. I should know, I've seen that look often enough." He sneered at Hiccup.

Tuffnut wasn't impressed. "It's Hiccup. He'd get like three feet into the forest before he tripped."

Astrid decided to interrupt. "No, he'd outrun all of you easily. Just listen. I chased Hiccup into the forest. How long do you think it took me to catch him?"

"Probably about ten seconds." Snotlout was obviously trying to compliment Astrid.

"Thirty seconds." That was Tuffnut, who sounded entirely serious.

Fishlegs spoke up. "I'm gonna guess... you didn't. He outran you, didn't he?"

Astrid ignored Snotlout's protests on her behalf. She nodded. That shut everyone up. "He outran me. Easily. We all know Hiccup has always been clumsy. But that day, he outran me by running straight into the deepest part of the forest, and up hills instead of around them. When he ran, it was like he was a different person. Someone not clumsy, someone quick and surefooted. I didn't know what to think. That was crazy enough."

Tuffnut interrupted again. "So? Hiccup can run. Why do we care? You act like it's unnatural for a person to be able to run."

Astrid was getting mad, the icy calm she had been holding cracking. "It was unnatural. No one gets that good that fast, and there was something about how he moved. No clumsy person moves like that. I thought it might have been a fluke. Then I saw him do it again. I'm betting you saw it too." She nodded at Fishlegs.

He stepped forward, nervous at being called to do what felt like testifying in Viking court.

Hiccup made the connection. Astrid was conducting this like a Viking court. The charges were laid, the witnesses spoke. Then the defendant was asked to explain. After that, a punishment was handed down. They were away from any interference, and Hiccup was stuck here. Astrid was doing all of this intentionally. Hiccup still wasn't sure what her end goal was, but the method was clear. This was a trial, with her as the judge and primary witness. Never mind that that wasn't allowed at a real trial, or that Astrid was acting in the position of Chief. By the way, Fishlegs' face had changed, he made the connection at about the same time Hiccup did.

Fishlegs spoke nervously. "Um, well, when we were on fire brigade last night, I saw Hiccup running through the village. I was so surprised, my boot caught on fire and I didn't notice for a few seconds. He was running really fast, right through the main street. You all saw how crazy it was last night. There was fire everywhere. Hiccup ran right through the street. The way he moved... he wasn't clumsy, and he seemed to know what the fire was going to do. He jumped right through a massive wall of it right as the wall flickered because of the wind. I, uh, I updated Hiccup's stats. I gave him, uh, a score in the fire category. A twenty." If Fishlegs thought that meant anything to Snotlout or the twins, he was crazy.

He was looking straight at Hiccup when he said that last part, so Hiccup was pretty sure he said it to him specifically. He wanted to laugh at the irony. Fishlegs gave him a score in a column he reserved for dragons. He had no idea how appropriate that really was.

"The fire column? What's our score in there?" Tuffnut was actually interested. Probably because it had to do with fire.

Fishlegs stuttered for a second. "Uh, people don't usually get scores in the fire column. It's for dragons, to rate how good their control or manipulation of fire is."

Tuffnut slumped, as did Ruffnut. Then he brightened. "Well, I guess me and Ruff will just have to try harder! Now we have an actual goal!"

Ruffnut frowned. "From what Fishlegs said, Hiccup's gonna be really hard to top. What can we do that's that cool with fire?"

"I could always set you on fire."

A loud crack split the air and silenced everyone. Astrid dropped the two halves of the whetstone she had just smashed on the boulder she was sitting on. "Focus. I saw the same thing Fishlegs did. Now, does anyone have anything else they want to add about Hiccup's behavior?"

The twins shrugged, and Snotlout smiled. "Yeah, I do. Why'd he insult you and me and show you up in training? And how, for that matter?" Astrid retained that icy facade she had held mostly intact. Snotlout thought he was making Astrid hate Hiccup.

Hiccup was well aware Snotlout couldn't make that any worse than it already was. He still didn't understand why Astrid was doing this. He needed to know why so he could figure out a way around it. Why hold a mock-trial for someone you fully intend to kill later anyway? She might be doing it to discredit him, but then she would be doing it in a real trial, not this. This meant nothing, officially.

"Alright, looks like that's it. Hiccup." She gestured at him. "Now you get to explain everything. You'd better explain everything."

Hiccup had to test that. "Or else?"

Astrid smiled viciously. "Or else Snotlout gets to beat you up until you can't stand. And he'll do it again, every day until you face the Nightmare, once a new one is captured. Stoick's never cared before, so he won't care now. And we all know you have to be in certain places at certain times. The forge, the Great Hall, your house. Training with Gobber and the rest of us. You'll barely be able to stand when you face the Nightmare, and it'll kill you."

That was a threat, but not for the reason Astrid thought. This wasn't going to happen, no matter what Astrid planned. If it came to that, he could leave with Toothless. She didn't know he had an out. She thought he was stuck on Berk, and clearly assumed he wouldn't just abandon his responsibilities. Which would be true, if he stayed on Berk. This was a threat she fully intended on having carried out, and from the look on Snotlout's face, he was fine with it, though this was definitely the first time he was hearing about it.

What it really boiled down to was this. Either Hiccup could give a satisfying explanation, code words in his mind for lie through his teeth, or he would have to leave. And he didn't want to leave. He didn't want to make rescuing Toothless's mom more difficult than it already was, and he definitely didn't want to be driven off of Berk by Astrid.

That was another thing. This plan didn't feel very well thought through. Astrid always thought through her plans. This one felt like it had some holes. She wasn't taking into account his newfound status in the village, for one thing. If he told people about this little mock trial, it was possible they might listen. Astrid would be discredited, and she and Snotlout would be watched. She was clearly assuming he would be ignored. Was it willful blindness on her part, or had her cracking sanity taken another blow recently? He wasn't sure which would be worse. A less sane Astrid bent on destroying him, or a more sane Astrid with the same goal. They would both be dangerous but in different ways.

He noticed Toothless had been quiet. The dragon was probably ready to leap into action in a split second. He was also probably trying not to distract Hiccup. They both knew muttering to himself right now would look really, really bad. Hiccup tried to gauge the others' reactions to what was basically a death sentence coming from Astrid if he didn't talk. The twins both looked a bit shocked, though they were hiding it pretty well. Ruffnut, in particular, was staring at Astrid. Fishlegs looked petrified. Snotlout looked strangely relieved. Why in the world would he look relieved? Eager, or happy, those emotions Hiccup would understand all too well. His cousin stood a good chance at being the next chief if Hiccup wasn't around. But relieved?

Hiccup realized that he needed a really good lie. Luckily, he had one. The same one he had used on Stoick. Time to act like he had never acted before. His life didn't actually depend on it, but his existence on Berk did. He shrugged. This had to seem like not a big deal if a little uncomfortable to discuss. "Fine. You didn't have to threaten my life to get me to explain. My dad just wanted me to keep it secret."

That statement was meant to do two things. First, drive home that what Astrid had just done was way out of line, hopefully weakening her support. Second, to get the chief involved, even if he wasn't really. It wasn't a claim they could question. He continued. "I wasn't sure what was going on in training. I would just do things in the ring, without planning them beforehand. I didn't like losing control, so I spent a lot of time in this cove, trying to figure it out. What caused it, how to stop it or control it." This was going well. He had a good explanation, and one that tied into all the stories Vikings told, the ones about warriors who lost control in battle and fought like crazy. He had cultural precedent for his lie. "When dad," Why did it feel weird calling him that? "got back from the nest hunt, I told him about what was happening. He says it's my bloodline showing up when I go into battle or feel really threatened. I can't control when it happens, and I can't really reproduce what I do when it does. He told me to keep it secret, because if people knew, they would be jealous," and at that he pointedly eyed Astrid, "or try to test it by attacking me. And I can't control it yet." He held in a smile as Astrid scowled at him, furious at his insinuation that she was jealous of his 'abilities.'

And as an excuse it was perfect. It explained everything. He checked their reactions, to see if they bought it. Fishlegs probably did, and the twins definitely did, going by their expressions. Snotlout seemed more annoyed with it than anything, which was better than disbelief. Astrid was the outlier. His explanation had been great and fit all the details. But she didn't believe him. It was hard to see, but the disbelief was there. It didn't matter. She had no more evidence to use against him. If she told Snotlout to punish him anyway, Fishlegs and maybe the twins would oppose her. He only needed one witness to guarantee he was taken seriously with the village, and his story was good enough that her objections would be pushed aside. He had beaten her.

"So, what you're saying is, we can't see this stuff in action?" That was Ruffnut.

"No, I can't trigger it intentionally, and it seems pretty random when I feel threatened enough. It didn't happen the first or second time in the ring, and I was definitely in life-threatening danger then."

Snotlout looked nonplussed. "So it only goes off sometimes? That isn't very useful." He didn't seem at all sorry to hear that.

Hiccup decided that this would be a good time to leave. He pulled himself out of Snotlout's grip and started walking towards the exit. He had a sudden idea, on how to really sell the fact that he didn't care his secret was 'out,' and hopefully discourage Astrid from coming back here. Even if he could never feel safe here, he wanted her out. "Oh, and I really need privacy when I try to figure this thing out, so thanks Astrid for ruining this place for me."

That was said with all the anger he truly felt towards her. Fishlegs and the twins looked utterly shocked. He continued. "I'll find somewhere else. Feel free to come back here whenever guys. Its biggest perk was that it was hidden. It isn't anymore." That really hurt to say, but he knew the best way to get people not to come back was to destroy any value it held in their minds. If it had been Hiccup's place, and he said it was ruined, they would believe him. Astrid would probably come back, but she would find that he was telling the truth about not coming back, and she would lose interest.

Hiccup left the cove and paused while the others filed out behind him. He decided to rub his speed in Astrid's face, now that his secret was 'out'. All it would take was one more white lie. "Oh, and by the way. My running is all me. Turns out, running like this helps clear my head. Anyone wanna race back?" He could see the pure fury in Astrid's eyes when the twins immediately volunteered, and Snotlout followed suit. He had just forced her to participate. And she knew he would crush them, including her. He was showing her that this little trial of hers had backfired. Far from destroying him, she had elevated him in the eyes of the others. And, he wasn't risking anything. The others would respect the wishes of the chief, and they knew that meant they had to keep their mouths shut.

He had Fishlegs count them down, as the only one not running. "3...2...1...GO!"

He took off, reveling in the opportunity to completely destroy them in a physical competition. And what's more, he wasn't cheating. Toothless wasn't giving his extra help, and Hiccup was relying entirely on his newly developed coordination, timing, speed, and stamina. Stuff Toothless had taught him how to practice. He was quite good at this now, and as long as he held off on the more extreme moves, he wasn't doing anything unnatural-looking. Just unnatural compared to his capabilities a month ago. He left them all in the dust, including Astrid. Once he got far enough ahead, he started talking to Toothless. While running, though it slowed him down as it messed with his breathing. He was still way faster than the others even at this pace. None of them had any practice at running through dense forest. "That looked really bad for a while. But I managed to turn it on Astrid entirely!"

'Yes, and I was one false move away from killing Snotlout. He almost died when he grabbed your arm.'

That sobered Hiccup up. He had almost forgotten how tense it had been down there. "Thank you for protecting me. If anything had gone differently, I would have needed it."

'I still don't get everything that happened down there. But your story was really good. You explained everything they noticed. But what if they tell other people?'

"They can't because they believe the Chief wants it kept a secret. And if nobody's supposed to know, they can't risk letting the Chief know they know."

Hiccup laughed. There was a saying about lies being a tangled web. If that was the case, right now he had woven a safety net. It was holding him up, and would continue to do so unless something unforeseen ripped it. And if that happened, he would drop onto Toothless's saddle and fly away. But he wouldn't have to. The net looked like it was holding fine.

Astrid fumed as she ran, angry beyond all reason at the failure of her plan. She had wanted to force Hiccup to admit that he had been cheating, or making deals with demons, or anything incriminating. Then, she could have used it to disqualify him as the winner of dragon training. She was the runner-up, so that would make her the best. Who cared if Hiccup got outcast or killed in pursuit of that goal? He didn't matter. But he had turned it on her. It had been a mistake to threaten his life in front of the other teens. When he had come up with a reasonable excuse, and she was sure without a doubt that it was an excuse, it had given him leverage with Fishlegs and the twins, who weren't going to support her against the heir when they thought he had done nothing wrong. And now he was showing her up. Again. In front of the others this time, to rub in her face the fact that he had gotten away with... something! It was making her so mad that she still didn't know what he was really doing! Whatever. She still had her original plan. Either way, he would die. And she would make herself the best. If he killed the Nightmare or was killed by it, then she would show her superiority by hunting them to extinction. Or just killing as many as possible. That would prove she was better than the dead heir. She just had to wait. And in the meantime, she would keep trying to figure out what he was really doing.

The twins were majorly impressed. This was the first time they had seen Hiccup really run, and he was pretty good. They hadn't had a chance to witness him go full out, either in the forest or in the raid, so they thought this was impressive. They totally believed Hiccup's explanation.

Fishlegs was unsettled. Hiccup's explanation made sense, but there was something there that didn't add up. And Fishlegs was a man of statistics and numbers. They always had to add up. If they didn't, something was wrong. He wasn't sure if they added up here. He would figure out what was bothering him eventually.

Snotlout was relieved. He entirely bought Hiccup's story. But it didn't matter to him. His goals and motives remained unchanged.

Hiccup didn't know it, but his safety net had weak threads. Whether or not they would hold long enough was up in the wind.

 ** _Author's note:_** **To Eris the guest, who said; "That is an interesting and fascinating chapter. Is that girl who taught Hiccup how to pick locks Camicazi and her mother is Bertha? I would be very happy when Camicazi apperas in your story. Please update soon."**

**I update every week on Thursday morning. I hope that counts as soon. As for Camicazi, maybe? Think of this as more of a confirmation that she does indeed exist in this universe, not that she's going to play a part in this story. I do like world-building, and there have already been references to things that won't come into play for a very, very long time.**


	16. Chapter 16

Gobber had kept Hiccup in the forge until after sundown, there was so much that needed to be done. Swords restraightened, ax blades unstraightened, and thousands of nails to be made. The nails were the worst part. Boring tedious, and entirely vital to any sort of rebuilding. Eventually, Gobber let him leave.

Hiccup didn't care about appearances, he immediately headed back into the forest and went as far as he could before it got too dark to see. Toothless ran the rest of the way to him, and they flew out to sea to make up for the fact that the Fury hadn't eaten since the previous morning. Hiccup knew they needed another way to get Toothless food on the days the village claimed all of his time. But for a dragon, who really only ate fresh fish, storing fish ahead of time just wouldn't work, even in the short-term. It didn't help that Berk was experiencing one of the hottest autumns on record. Although, that really just meant it hadn't snowed yet. Still, Toothless and Hiccup eventually agreed that what they were doing now would have to work.

Toothless dropped off Hiccup at the edge of the village once they were done. The tradeoff to this was that he would have to keep the saddle on until Hiccup could visit in the day. Not the worst fate, though Toothless did say it itched to wear for too long.

Hiccup slept deeply the remainder of the night and was at the armory by the time the sun rose. He needed to get to the arena, but he wanted to figure something out first. "Toothless?"

'Yes?' The Night Fury was already awake in anticipation of the extended training beginning today.

"How does a small and fast dragon fight?" Hiccup was working off of his running theory. Toothless was able to teach him how dragons did things, like run, and he adapted these teachings to fit Hiccup. So, if Hiccup wanted help with fighting and self-defense in general, he needed to know which weapon would best be able to mimic how a dragon fought.

'Assuming you mean on the ground? With teeth and claws, lunging forward, hitting, and moving out of range, as fast as possible. Sharp claws do the most damage. Then, once they wear their opponent down, they go all out and stop retreating. That's when the teeth come out. Why?'

Well, that ruled out hammer, maces, and the large two-handed swords bigger than Hiccup was. Thankfully. "I want to pick a weapon that can do that."

'Good idea. I would say your dagger, but it's a bit small, and you probably don't want to fight with one in each hand.'

Hiccup pictured that. It might look impressive, but it would be horribly outmatched by pretty much any other weapon. "Not an option. I think I need something with range too. So fast, long, and sharp." He picked up a spear. "This might work."

'That can only pierce, not really cut. You'll be limited in what you can do. and only on one end. You would probably be using both ends, but one is blunt.'

Hiccup shrugged. This was the closest thing to what he wanted. Even though it wasn't that close. Toothless was right, he had seen the rare Viking who could use a staff. They fought with both ends. He had an idea.

"Right now it isn't perfect. I can fix it later, after training today!" If he couldn't find exactly what he needed, he would make it. A staff with a cutting blade on both ends. Something their armory didn't even have. It would be unique, and something no Viking would have experience fighting against. He just hoped Gobber knew enough about the staff and the spear to teach him the basics. Toothless could teach him strategy and he would develop a style from that.

Hiccup had a few motives for all of this. A dagger and shield would no longer cut it. Gobber would force him to pick another weapon if he showed up with a dagger and carrying an ax would only sentence him to more time with Stoick in training how to swing it.

The weapon he had in mind could avoid that and provide yet another excuse for time spent in the forest to practice with his new weapon. His final version of this weapon would also be something of a statement. He'd learn to fight, but he'd do it his way. The village just wasn't aware that his way involved a dragon in his head, advising him on tactics suited to combat as something small and fast.

Another reason for this was that he did need to know how to defend himself. Astrid's threats had driven that home. He couldn't rely on Toothless and running every time. By the time he did whatever he did with the Nightmare they would capture, he needed to be capable of self-defense. Because that was when something was guaranteed to go wrong. And if he survived that and didn't leave the village, Astrid was going to try to kill him. He needed to be ready to defend himself, likely against a crazy shieldmaiden with an ax.

But there was one more motivation, one that Hiccup was barely aware of. It was mostly subconscious. Toothless's protective nature was starting to rub off on him, at least a little. He wanted to someday be able to return the favor. And for that, he needed a weapon.

He took the spear, hefted his shield, and made his way to the arena. The other teens were already there, though Gobber was not yet present. Astrid had her double-bladed ax, Fishlegs a hammer, Snotlout a rather large sword, Tuffnut a mace, and Ruffnut...

"Hey, are you copying me Hiccup?" Ruffnut also had a spear.

Hiccup grinned. "Today. I haven't made any modifications yet."

Ruffnut was taken aback. "You think you can improve the spear? One of the best weapons ever?" She sounded legitimately confused and a little insulted.

Hiccup tried to clarify. "No, I'm going to turn it into something different. You'll see next time. It won't even be a spear anymore." That was something to consider. He was going to make a weapon of a new kind. What in the world was he going to call it? Double-spear-sword didn't really roll off the tongue. He'd need to think about that.

Fishlegs looked intrigued. "Why would you make a totally new weapon? I might have to redo my stats for weapon types if you do that."

That was weird. Hiccup knew Fishlegs kept stats for dragon types, and people, which was weird enough, but weapon types? He had to have all of this written down somewhere. There was no way this was all in his head.

"What will you call it?"

Hiccup sighed. "I don't know yet. I'll be sure to tell you when I do." This was getting out of hand. He wished he hadn't said anything until he had actually made the thing.

Gobber ended the conversation by finally showing up. He had Fishlegs and Snotlout help him in dragging the blunted weapon racks and one empty weapon rack into the arena. ONce that was done, the two-limbed blacksmith turned to face them. "Alright, let's get started! We're gonna work on fightin' against other Vikings, and we're gonna practice on..."

Hiccup had one hope. That Gobber's next words would be anything other than 'each other'.

"...Each other! Eventually. Today, I'm just gonna see how good ya'll are with yer weapons o' choice." He took in the group, eyes settling on Hiccup. "Speakin' o' which, you gonna take up the spear Hiccup?"

Hiccup laughed nervously. "Uh, actually no. It's a placeholder. I don't have my weapon just yet. I will next time."

Gobber stared dubiously. "Bu' whatever it is, I'm gonna bet ye'll have no idea how to use it, am I righ'?"

Hiccup nodded. That was a guarantee, at least at first. Toothless was a good teacher, even if he didn't know the weapon itself. He was sure he'd learn quickly.

"Ach, fine. Anything's better than a dagger, even if ye'll have to start from scratch." He examined the rest of the line. "Good, good, good, wait... Snotlout, are ye sure you can use tha' sword properly? It's a bit... big."

Snotlout was proving Gobber right. The overconfident teen could barely hold the oversized sword steady. And that was impressive because if Snotlout was one thing, it was strong. "It's my dad's. He's gonna teach me how to use it. He said he couldn't even lift it when he started learning!"

Gobber nodded, a sly smile on his face. "Aye, I remember that. Spitelout's dad told him to carry it with him at all times until he could use it properly. Thing is, that was a punishment, for Spitelout braggin' he could use any weapon. Tha' thing has weights in the hilt."

Snotlout looked dumbstruck by the information. He fiddled with the hilt, and two chunks of a dense purple-black metal Hiccup had never seen before dropped out of the undersides. Snotlout instantly jerked the sword up, it was so much lighter now.

Gobber smiled. "He must'a never told Spitelout that. Oy, and don't mess with that metal. There's somethin' off abou' that stuff. I'll get it back to Spitelout."

Hiccup was pretty sure he knew what metal that was. It was lead. He had heard from Johann the Romans used it, for strange things like pipes. Johann had also said that it was poisonous, slowly killing you if you interacted with it on a daily basis. he wasn't sure if that was true. The Romans would probably have figured it out by now if that was the case. Either way, he wanted nothing to do with it.

'That stuff smells wrong. Don't mess with it.' And there was another of Johann's weird stories confirmed. He really should start listening more when the trader showed up.

"Alrighty then. We're gonna do two things. Who here has the best endurance?" This was a strange question. They all probably now knew it was Hiccup, but Gobber didn't and the competitive nature of the teens ensured that Snotlout and Astrid raised their hands.

Hiccup felt it was best not to volunteer. Besides, the way Gobber did things...

"Okay, Astrid and Snotlout. Now, out of Fishlegs and Tuffnut, who has better endurance?" Tuffnut immediately stepped forward. "Got it. Everyone but Hiccup and Ruffnut, start runnin' laps around the arena. I'll see where the spear-users are in skill first. Then they can join the runners, and Fishlegs and Tuffnut will be tested, and then they can keep running. Lastly, Astrid and Snotlout will be tested. Then we can really get started!" They all stared at Gobber, in various states of dread and surprise.

Toothless laughed in Hiccup's head. 'That's what they get for volunteering.' Astrid and Snotlout would already be tired when Gobber tested their skills. It was a trick, designed to make things hard even for the best in the class. Hiccup expected that this would be a running theme, and thanks to the competitive nature of Vikings Astrid and Snotlout would keep falling for it, over and over.

All of the teens except Ruffnut and Hiccup began slowly jogging around the inside edge of the circular stone arena.

"Speed it up, ya'll are barely movin'!" Gobber cleared his throat and turned to Ruffnut and Hiccup. He proceeded to stare at them. "Well, what're ye waitin' for? I need to see ya both fight, have at it!"

Ruffnut grinned unsettlingly. The next few minutes were an exercise in humiliation for Hiccup. Ruffnut was adept in the use of a spear, and he had picked up his first spear literally half an hour ago.

Gobber finally intervened after she defeated him in under ten seconds... for the seventh time. "Ruffnut, you're not bad, though you could use some refinement. Hiccup..."

Hiccup interrupted. "I'm terrible, I know. This is just for today. But I'm probably gonna be just as bad with my real weapon."

Gobber sighed. "Ye know I'll teach ya. Ye'd better be prepared to take a beatin' in training against the other teens until ye learn though. I won't let you not participate, 'cause that would leave me with five trainees. I need an even number. And Vikings aren't gentle."

Gobber didn't need to remind Hiccup of that. He knew all too well. He and Ruffnut joined the runners. The other four skill tests went as Hiccup expected. Everyone else was fairly adept with their weapons of choice, even Fishlegs. Now that he could swing it, Snotlout did well with his large sword, though Astrid was in a class of her own with her ax. Even Gobber was impressed by her skill.

Finally, Gobber had everyone gather in the center. Hiccup was the only one not panting, or even breathing very heavily. The speed they had been running at was one he could keep up indefinitely, especially on level, unobstructed terrain.

Gobber eyed him oddly. "Well. Looks like some of ye overestimated yerselves. The one with the most endurance here is... Hiccup, it would seem. Somehow." Gobber noted the not-so-surprised reactions of the other teens. That was odd. They seemed to be expecting that. Although Astrid looked furious, as was normal lately when Hiccup was involved. "Well, That's all for today. We'll meet back here in two days ta get started with the real trainin'. Oh, and if yer tired right now, ye better get used to it."

Hiccup left the arena hastily. He had so many things he needed to do. First on the list was get to the forest before anything could interrupt him. He made it to the woods, and by extension the cave, with no issues. As they went fishing, Toothless and Hiccup discussed the weapons training.

'I don't like it. You have no scales or protection, and you still swing weapons at each other to train.' Toothless punctuated that with a plasma blast into the sea beneath them. They circled.

"Well, I don't have a choice. Hopefully, with my weapon, Gobber can teach me the basics of how to use it, and you..."

Toothless took up the thread of thought. '...Can show you how to fight effectively with it without getting killed. Yeah, I can do that. I've fought a few Vikings. The Queen would sometimes have me attack the tops of watchtowers in person if there were more towers than I had shots.'

Hiccup tried to remember a time that had happened. He couldn't. "Was this on other islands?"

'Yes, ones that have more time to prepare because the Queen doesn't raid anywhere as often as here.'

Hiccup was actually thankful for that. It meant that the Queen was likely to attack again soon. And that meant they would soon have their chance. Speaking of which... He brought it up after they had caught their fish and eaten them. They were sitting in the mouth of the tunnel that let out to the ocean. "Bud, the Queen could raid anytime. We need a plan for when she does."

Toothless growled. 'Yes, we do.'

"Alright, let's make one. How did I free you? I knocked you out of the sky with my bola launcher. But that thing is not a good idea. I got in a lucky shot. There's no guarantee I could do it again, and I can't control where she would land even if I did get lucky again. It's too risky." Plus it had been crushed, but that wouldn't have been a big problem. Hiccup could just rebuild it if they needed it.

'How about we fly up there, and hit her from above? We just need to make the Queen think she's gonna die. Without actually killing her...' Toothless trailed off as he realized what they would have to do, and how little room for error they had. 'I can fire a plasma blast just strong enough to knock her out of the sky if I can get a clean shot. It'll be risky, but I don't see any other way.'

Hiccup didn't like that plan. There was a too big a chance Toothless might hit her too hard. "Wait, why did the Queen release her hold on the arena dragons? Maybe we just need to knock her out, not get the Queen to voluntarily pull out. That would be easier. But the problem of not killing her in the process still remains."

'So we have two separate issues. We need some way to knock out a Night Fury, and we need a way to either do it on the ground or a way to do it in the sky where a fall wouldn't hurt her too badly. That's gonna be tricky.'

Hiccup started scratching Toothless's nose, to lighten the mood, which had become dark as they plotted. "We'll figure it out. Hey, what about the pond in the cove? If we can bait the Queen over it and the knock her out, she'll fall in and you can fish her out. The cove might not be safe, but no one will be there in the middle of a raid. And then you can just get her to follow you to the cave when she wakes up. Or maybe carry her, if she isn't too heavy."

Toothless liked that idea. 'So now we just need a safe way to knock her out. Can we drop something onto her head? I can fly steady above her if she doesn't know I'm there. I could drop something like a rock. Or maybe you should, so that I could concentrate on flying.'

Hiccup wanted to laugh. Not because it was a bad idea, but because he would probably be the one dropping it. He would be the only human in history to knock the most elusive dragon in the world out of the sky by dropping a rock. "That should work. Night Furies have hard heads, right?"

Toothless nodded. He knew that from personal experience.

"Then that shouldn't be too risky. We'll use a smooth rock, so it doesn't hit her with a jagged edge." They immediately set out to find suitable rocks. They decided on three mostly spherical, about eight-pound stones. Hiccup would only be able to carry one at a time, but they needed all three for what he had in mind.

They were both understandably quite worried that a raid would occur when they were separate, which was quite likely. But not guaranteed. So, to save time no matter where they were when a raid occurred, Hiccup and Toothless put each of the three stones in a specific place. One was set in the cave, in the event that they were together when the raid occurred. The second rock was set in the forest, at about the halfway point between the cave and the village. Hiccup set the third just inside the forest edge by the village. Now, no matter where they were, they could get to a rock and into the air as fast as possible, no detours.

They both felt much better now that they had a plan. They had returned to the cave when they realized the next problem.

'Hiccup, don't take the saddle off.'

"Why?"

'Because I need to be ready for the raid. If you take it off at night, it won't matter where the nearest rock is, we'll still have to go back to the cave. It's too big for me to carry in my mouth and still run fast.'

Hiccup considered this. "Okay, but I'll take it off every day so it doesn't aggravate your back too much. It'll still irritate you over time, so hopefully, the raid happens soon."

'Agreed.'

Hiccup made the trip back to Berk before sundown. He spent the rest of the day drawing plans for how he would rebuild the spear. He eventually decided that he would just make this new weapon from scratch, and made a quick trip to a Viking skilled in woodcarving, to request a staff. After a few minutes spent shifting through a pile of different staves, he eventually decided on one somewhat longer than he was tall, but only slightly. What he had in mind would need some extra length. He then returned to his house (as the son of the chief, he got most common supplies for free) and went to sleep, prepared for a day of forging and flying.

The next day, he immediately went to the forge, because Gobber would be expecting him, given the blacksmith still had an overload of work. After Hiccup had spent a few hours working on official assignments, he got to work on his weapon. Toothless had been a huge help in perfecting a lethal design, one that would be able to emulate a dragon in combat style, if not specific moves.

He forged a set of two curved blades, pounding the bars of raw metal into a curve before tapering one edge with careful strokes of a smaller hammer. That part took a while, as he had to taper while keeping a mostly flat edge. They were high quality iron, but even so curved blades were difficult. After he had finished the shape and tempered them as well as he could, he set the two nearly identical blades aside. Sharpening could come later.

Next came preparing the staff. He smoothed it down as well as he could manage. Afterwards, he wrapped red-dyed leather straps around two likely spots, creating handholds that wouldn't rub quite so raw with overuse, spaced equally distant from the center of the stave.

Then he went to work grafting the blades to it. One went on each end of the stave, pointing in opposite directions. He had thought long and hard about whether they should point the same way or opposite directions, or even at right angles to each other. This weapon did have a downside. It was entirely capable of injuring the user if used incorrectly. Hiccup was confident that with practice that wouldn't be an issue, and the same design that made it dangerous to him also would allow him to excel at fighting multiple enemies at once. If he angled both blades the same direction, it would be a little less likely he would cut himself with one while attacking with the other end. But that would hinder his weapon permanently, and he didn't want to have to make another. Angling the blades at right angles might work, but it also wouldn't be quite as dangerous. Besides, that would make the weapon unsymmetrical and might throw off the balance. So, he angled the blades in opposite directions.

In a moment of prudence, he also decided to make himself leather armor for his torso. It would protect him from cutting himself on his sides and back as he learned how to use this thing. That didn't take too long. He did it while he waited for the metal to cool. It took him several hours in total, but he had built it.. And he still had no idea what to call it.

He considered sharpening both blades, before realizing that might not be a good idea until he knew enough not to injure himself with them.

'That thing looks really dangerous now that I can look at it. Both to enemies, and you.'

"I know. It won't be dangerous for me once I learn how to use it. But I built some leather armor just in case."

'Good thinking.'

Hiccup heard a clang and looked up. Gobber was staring at him. More specifically, his weapon.

That sound had been Gobber had dropping a mace. "Wha' in Thor's name is tha'?" He sounded slightly awed.

Hiccup smiled. He must have looked quite interesting at the moment, a skinny teenager with a very menacing-looking weapon no one had ever seen before. "I don't know what I'm going to call it yet. I did tell you I wasn't sticking with a spear. This will be what I use."

Gobber stared at Hiccup as though he just grew a second head, then went back to studying the new thing he supposed was a weapon. "Is that a… scythe?"

Hiccup shrugged. "Sorta. More a weapon than a tool for cutting stalks. You've seen how gracelessly I've handled warhammers and axes. I need something light and quick, but a spear just doesn't quite cut it, so I figured I'd make this. And look, it has a blade on the other side so I can strike from different angles and be less predictable. I rotated the blades at either end to point opposite directions to give me more options in defending or attacking."

Hiccup pantomimed some parrying motions, arcing stabs, and disarming an imaginary opponent by hooking their imaginary weapon with one of the scythe blades, but yelped as the point of one blade - thankfully not sharpened yet - poked his ribcage.

"When I get more proficient with it, of course," he sheepishly said as he rubbed his newly-formed bruise.

'Good thing you didn't sharpen it. That would have been even more embarrassing.'

"Oh, shut it," Hiccup muttered with a half grin.

"Eh?" Gobber asked.

"Oh,"Hiccup stammered out, realizing he just responded to a dragon the blacksmith couldn't hear. Thinking fast, he said, "I knew you were coming up with a snide remark, so I thought I'd head you off at the pass." A moment of silence passed.

Gobber had serious reservations about a clumsy boy wielding an unknown weapon that looked very dangerous in the wrong hands... and in the right ones. He blinked. If Hiccup could really learn to fight with this, it would be impressive. And he had to admit a weapon that relied on intelligence, strategy, and speed was right up Hiccup's alley. "Fine, ye can try to learn how ta use it. I assume that armor is so ya don't kill yerself in the process?"

"Yup. Don't want to risk injuring all of... this." Hiccup gestured to himself as he spoke for sarcastic emphasis.

Gobber ignored that. "Good. I really don' wanna be the one to explain to Stoick how his son managed ta kill 'imself with 'is own weapon during trainin'."

Hiccup laughed. "That wouldn't be my problem Gobber, it would be yours. I'll be fine." He realized that he was done with everything he needed to do here. "Can I go now? I have some other things I need to do."

Gobber shrugged. "Sure." His face hardened. "Bu' don't try to use that thing withou' someone to make sure ya don' hurt yerself."

"Deal." Hiccup counted Toothless as 'someone'. And Toothless wanted to see the weapon in person. He would bring it with him to the cave.

That reminded him, how would he carry it?

"Actually..." Hiccup looked around the forge. His view settled on his corner, specifically on an old quiver of his. He walked over and picked it up. He had made this quiver a few months ago, as an experiment. It was built specifically so that it could be unfolded, and had a latch to keep it in shape.

"What are ye up to now?" Gobber looked on in bemusement.

Hiccup cut the bottom out of the quiver and removed the metal frame that held the circular shape. He proceeded to wrap the quiver around the center of his pole-arm and used the latch to tighten it on. It wasn't by any means perfectly secure, but it held the weapon firm enough. He slung the quiver on, slowly to avoid cutting himself by accident. It looked like the next project would involve building a special back-holster for this thing, but this would do for now. He grinned, turning to address Gobber. "Temporary holster. I'll make a good one later."

Gobber nodded. "See you tomorrow. Try not to cut yerself until then!" He waved his hook in exaggerated farewell.

Hiccup left the forge and ran to the forest, noting flaws in his temporary holster to address when making a more permanent one. It would need to stop the weapon from turning or else the blades could end up pointed forwards and back. He was going to have to get used to having this thing with him, but it would be worth it. This was self-sufficient protection. He could run. He could hide. Now he needed to get used to what came with being able to fight. He just hoped learning how to use this thing wouldn't be too hard.

Toothless met him at the large land entrance to the caves. The dragon stopped a few feet short and eyed his new weapon with awe.

Hiccup didn't know that Toothless wasn't really looking at the weapon, but at Hiccup with the weapon. Right now, the boy didn't fit the weapon. Toothless had seen a lot of human warriors, and it could be seen when they understood how their weapon was used, how to fight with it. There was a certain way in which they carried themselves that separated adept and inept. Right now, Hiccup didn't have that. He looked like what he was, a boy with a weapon he didn't understand. Toothless knew that would change. So he tried to see what Hiccup would look like when he did understand this thing. He knew it would be intimidating. The dragon also knew that weapons were an extension of the user's personality, to an extent. This applied to dragons as well as humans, the use of claws and fire mirroring personality. Hiccup's weapon was foreign, tall and thin, and undoubtedly intimidatingly sharp. 'It fits you. Or, it will.'

Hiccup was confused by this. "It will?"

'Once you can use it.'

Hiccup smiled. "I don't want to wait, but I probably should let Gobber show me how to swing it without cutting myself first. Then we can figure out how to fight with it."

Toothless took offense at that. 'This is something no human has ever used before. What makes Gobber any more qualified than you or me to teach you how it works?'

"He's a warrior and a blacksmith. He makes and uses weapons of all sorts. He has experience, and we don't. Besides, he knows how to use spears and how to use a staff, the two closest equivalents."

Toothless couldn't argue with that. 'Let's go do something we know how to do, then. Flying, maybe?'

Hiccup laughed. "Sure. But I think I need to leave this thing behind, for now at least." He frowned. He might need to make covers for the blades, for when it was on his back. That way they wouldn't cut anything while he was flying with Toothless. But they would have to be really easy to take off, in case he needed his weapon ready quickly. This thing was needing a lot of additional design work. And it didn't even have a proper name yet. He left the holster and weapon in the cave, and they spent the next few hours fishing and flying, as per usual. They spent some time discussing what to call the weapon.

'Spear-staff.' Toothless didn't have a lot to work with.

"No. No combo names." Hiccup had a thought. "It really does look like a scythe, but at both ends. We don't really have any around here, but Trader Johann has some sometimes. They aren't weapons, they're for harvesting wheat."

'What's wheat?'

"Never mind. Scythe is close, but not quite right. I should ask Trader Johann next time he comes to Berk." That wasn't going to be until after the freeze, and by extension winter. Things were moving so fast, who knew what would be going on by then?

Toothless didn't really care what it looked like, the weapon needed to have an intimidating name. Hiccup designed it, with input from a Night Fury. It should be as intimidating as possible, to reflect that. A combination of scary intelligence and a scary dragon. 'How about... Scythe Fury?'

Hiccup coughed, completely taken by surprise. "Did you just take my suggestion... and name the weapon after yourself?"

'No! Well, yes. But it makes sense!'

"How is that?" Hiccup was actually interested, because Toothless sounded entirely serious, and not at all vain.

Toothless tried to explain his reasoning. 'Well, you said it was like a scythe, so scythe. And the way it's built, it looks like an offensive weapon, not defensive. It looks really well suited to attacking nonstop or fighting multiple enemies. Fury feels like it embodies that. And it almost rhymes! Night Fury, Scythe Fury!'

Hiccup considered that. As a name for a weapon type, it was unusual. That was for sure. But he was pretty sure he would be the only one who used this particular weapon type. He was the only one who knew exactly how to make one. And he wasn't sure he would make one for someone else if they asked. That felt wrong to think about. So if he was the only one to use it, why couldn't he call it that? "You know what, you're right. Unless we come up with something better, Scythe Fury it is."

Toothless set down at the cave an hour before sundown. Hiccup removed the saddle, and Toothless proceeded to roll around in the stream outside the cave exit. Hiccup had suggested that, as a way to clean his back quickly in order to lessen the annoyance of constantly wearing the saddle. Once he had dried off, Toothless had Hiccup put the saddle back on. Then it was time for Hiccup to head back.

He had time, so Hiccup decided to just run back. It took him a few minutes to adjust to running with the Scythe Fury on his back. That name felt like it might be a little long-winded to say, unlike ax or spear. "Hey, Toothless. I think I'll just call the weapon type Scythe, even though that name is kind of already taken. No one will care. The name of my weapon can be Fury. That way they both have short names."

Toothless mentally snorted. 'That works. Calling your weapon "Fury" sounds pretty awesome too.'

Hiccup agreed with that. He ran into the village and jogged to his house. He got a few stares as he made his way there.

'What is that?'

'I dunno, looks dangerous.'

Hiccup wanted to laugh. Toothless was using his superior hearing to relay comments from the villagers that they were saying too quietly for him to hear. It was like eavesdropping out in the open. "Don't do that. My ego might not be able to handle having an invention of mine complimented so much."

'I can always sit on you until it deflates again.' Toothless was being entirely serious.

Hiccup made it to his house and walked inside. To find Stoick, which was rare. Usually, he spent as much time out of the house as possible. Hiccup realized that he now did the same, but for very different reasons. Stoick was sitting at the table, sharpening his ax. Seriously, what was it with people sharpening stuff in their spare time? First Astrid, now Stoick. Didn't they have anything else to do?

"What is that?" Stoick sounded confused and slightly disapproving.

Hiccup felt the need to really sell this one. "This is only the newest and greatest weapon not available!"

Stoick's eyebrows rose. "Not available? What is that supposed to mean? Is it something Gobber is testing? It doesn't look like something you should have."

That hurt. "No, it is the weapon I designed and built. For myself. So it is definitely something I should have."

Stoick held his hands out, silent. Hiccup undid the holster and placed the weapon in his hands.

Stoick turned it over, examined the blades, and stood. He started spinning it, then stopped. Held it in two hands, and mimed a chopping motion, spike end cutting downward. He abruptly spun the weapon the opposite direction, raising the curved blade on the other end to attack the air in front of him from below. Then he tried to hold and swing it horizontally. The spike end facing him impacted his side. It didn't pierce the chainmail, because Stoick wasn't swinging it at all hard, just fast.

Hiccup felt he had to speak. "It's sized for me. One for you would be larger, so that wouldn't happen." He neglected to say that because of Stoick's girth, he wouldn't be able to use horizontal attacks very well anyway because his arms weren't long enough to compensate for his size.

Stoick set the scythe on the table, between them. "It's a strange one. A weapon like this requires the user to think while fighting. To hit weak points. And it isn't the weapon of a team player. Too risky to use in a line of defense." He stared at Hiccup. "Son, this isn't the weapon of a Viking, of a chief. A chief is supposed to lead his people. This is a weapon for a rogue or a loner. Someone who has to defend his own flanks, because no one else will."

"Well, the weapons of a Viking all involve strength and single-minded stubbornness." That came out way harsher than Hiccup intended, but he pressed on. "And I didn't exactly win dragon training purely by the massive muscles I so obviously possess."

Hiccup flexed his wiry arm dramatically before continuing. "So I'm working with what I have. I built this to take advantage of what I can do. I'm fast and can think in battle. This scythe lets me take advantage of that. Once I get used to how to move it, I can attack three times for every swing of an ax, six for every swing of a hammer. I can attack in four different ways, one slicing and one piercing from each side. Fighting someone good with this would be like fighting two or even four warriors at once."

He was moving into pure speculation now, but he didn't care. "You wanna say this isn't the weapon of a chief? A chief needs to be a good fighter. With this, I'll be able to fight really well, in time. But I'm never going to be good with the weapons that need you to be stronger than the opponent to win."

Stoick was silent, living up to his name. Then he spoke. "Has Gobber agreed to teach you how to use this?"

"Yes, he has."

"Then I'll let you try. But if you can't defeat anyone with it in training, by the time we catch a Nightmare for you, you'll drop it and learn something else. Something more Viking-like."

Hiccup supposed that was the best he could hope for. He picked up the scythe and headed towards the stairs.

"Oh, and Hiccup. I wanted to ask you something. Where do you go all the time?"

Hiccup stopped. He turned back to look at Stoick. This wasn't a question he wanted to answer. "The woods. I mostly just train in the woods." That was just specific enough that hopefully, Stoick would drop it.

"Well, you need to be in the village more. Train in the arena. I don't want you disappearing at random anymore."

That was where Hiccup drew the line. He would not agree to stop going into the woods, because he couldn't. The idea physically hurt to think about. "I can't. I train alone, to avoid distractions. The woods are perfect for that." He hoped that would be a good enough excuse.

"That right there is why you need to train here. Distractions and other people are what you'll be dealing with in combat. You'll train here in the village." That was Stoick's no-nonsense voice.

Hiccup didn't answer. He couldn't straight up defy the chief, but he could refuse to agree to stay in the village. Or, he could at least try. He walked away, and up the stairs. Stoick must have thought he agreed because he didn't object to Hiccup ending the conversation. Now Hiccup had a new goal. Avoid Stoick entirely, until the next raid, where they would capture a Nightmare. Then he would have no choice. He would have to do something then. Whatever that ended up being.

'You aren't going to do what he says.' It wasn't a question or command, but a statement of truth. They both knew it was the truth.

"Nope. If it wasn't for your mom and the Nightmare they're going to capture for me to kill, I would just suggest we leave now. But those are two good reasons to stay."

'What are you going to do once they put you in the ring with a new Nightmare?'

Hiccup sighed. There really wasn't any way around it, if he wanted to keep that dragon alive. "That'll have to be when I convince the village dragons aren't the enemy. I'll earn the trust of the Nightmare, and show them. I would like to do this after we killed the Queen, but that isn't an option."

'That's almost certain to fail.'

"I know. If we fail, I'll have you trash the arena roof, and we can leave Berk. We'll have freed your mother the night before, so there won't be anything keeping us here."

'Why not just rescue the Nightmare the night before and leave then? Why risk yourself to almost certainly fail to convince them?'

"Because I can't leave without having tried." Hiccup sat on his bed, placing the scythe against the wall. Everything he was doing now was just extra preparation. He was ready for a raid. So that all this could end. One way or another, he wanted the uncertainty and anticipation to end.

**_Author's Note_ ** **: If anyone can't picture the scythe, look no further than the thumbnail for a rough sketch.**

**In response to a review by Youyou098, which I feel I might as well repeat here, while a super long-game plan to get Hiccup back with Astrid would be quite the story, it's not gonna happen here. Figured I'd make that official. The good ship Hiccstrid has sailed off the edge of the world. And burned, for good measure. It is an interesting plot idea, though as Romance is not my forte, probably not one that will be written by me.**


	17. Chapter 17

**_Author's Note:_** **Last chapter got quite a good reception. Glad to see this story is holding interest. With this chapter we're at roughly the halfway point of the first book.**

Hiccup didn't get his wish. The next week passed in a blur, but no raids. The reactions of the teens to his new weapon was about what he expected. Fishlegs gave it stats, Ruffnut and Tuffnut admired its deadliness, Snotlout scoffed, and Astrid glared.

Over the week, Hiccup practiced under Gobber's guidance to safely swing the scythe, working to develop muscle memory that wouldn't end with him slashing his own leg open. Once he figured out how to not hurt himself, he could start figuring out how to hurt others, as Gobber had put it. In the meantime, he practiced solo and Gobber alternated fighting the other teens in his stead. Gobber wasn't stupid enough to put him against anyone until he gained basic control, despite what he had said before, for their safety as well as his.

In addition to weapons training, Hiccup built several small things to help himself incorporate the large weapon into his routine. A new customized back holster held the scythe secure so it wouldn't rotate and stab him while running around, and he even figured out a latching mechanism to remove the scythe without taking the holster itself off of his back. That had been tricky. He also built some special leather sheaths for the blades as an added safeguard when transporting the weapon, which ended up just living in the saddlebag while flying with Toothless. They could be taken off quickly, so having them on didn't hamper his reaction time too much.

He also spent a lot of time in the forge, though the workload was slowly fading down to normal. The rest of Hiccup's spare time was spent in with Toothless romping around the woods and flying around. All that changed was that he now snuck into his own house at night, and left before the sun rose. Stoick's insanely busy schedule assisted Hiccup in accomplishing the feat of not encountering his own father for an entire week, despite sharing the same house.

On the unofficial side of training, Hiccup and Toothless had persisted with running and the occasional stealth game. Most of Hiccup's training time was going towards practicing with the scythe. He knew that that was something he needed done as soon as possible.

After a solid week of training, Hiccup had it nailed. He smiled as he walked into the arena. Today was the day he would show Gobber that he was safe in using his weapon. Gobber had thought it would take at least two weeks. He hadn't factored in Hiccup's excessive practice because he didn't know about it.

The other teens began sparring, as usual. All but Fishlegs, who would have been sparring with Hiccup today. Gobber took one look at Hiccup and saw his determination.

"Lemme guess, ya think ya got it. Prove it." Gobber had told Hiccup that if he could swing a weapon for a full minute, in every way possible, without stopping or hurting himself, that was how he knew he had mastered moving it around safely. Apparently, there was a foreign weapon Gobber had once used that consisted of a spiked ball on the end of a chain that was just as dangerous as this. That was how the foreigners who used it trained the few visiting Vikings who wanted to try. Gobber had been one of those Vikings, and he remembered.

Hiccup had already tested himself yesterday in a similar way. He squared his feet and began moving the scythe, keeping his feet steady. There was no pattern, he was just moving it randomly, keeping up the momentum as he moved faster and faster, never stopping.

Fishlegs was the only teen watching, and he looked a bit intimidated. Hiccup was swinging around two sharp blades perilously close to himself. He stuttered something unintelligible, then shouted to the other teens. "Guys! Look at that!"

The other teens stopped to watch. Hiccup was in full gear now, concentrating on moving the scythe as fast as he could, in as many different directions as possible. It certainly looked impressive, though in combat this would be nigh on useless. It was just a way to demonstrate that one had committed how to use the weapon to muscle memory. That being said, two sharp blades being swung at all angles and never slowing was still cool to watch.

"And that's a minute. Good work Hiccup. Ye can start learning to fight with it now. And ye know what the best way ta learn is?" Gobber didn't give him a chance to answer. "On the job. Well, get to it Fishlegs!" He walked away.

Fishlegs stared at Hiccup. Hiccup stared at Fishlegs. Fishlegs hefted his hammer.

'Now you get to do something useful!' Toothless had been immensely proud of Hiccup getting used to the scythe, but he had wanted to see the weapon he helped design in action for a while now. 'Do you want my advice on how to attack?'

Hiccup considered it. He muttered under his breath in answer. "Sure, why not. It'll help me learn faster."

Hiccup spun his scythe so that the top blade spike was angled down, the weapon as a whole pointed straight at Fishlegs. Fishlegs gulped and readied his hammer and shield. Surprisingly, Fishlegs charged. Hiccup jumped back and swept his scythe around so that the other blade drew a line across Fishlegs' shield as he stopped his charge.

'You need to make distance.' Toothless was interrupted by Fishlegs swinging his hammer at Hiccup's side. Once Hiccup had dodged, Toothless elaborated. 'Your reach is longer. Use that to keep out of range of his hammer.'

Hiccup grunted in acknowledgment, and the fight continued. He wasn't used to fighting other people, and Fishlegs had had practice fighting pole-arms with a hammer. Still, Hiccup was improving as he learned the strategic aspects of his weapon in combat, and he had surprised Fishlegs enough to win two of the seven bouts. He went to the forest after, and after their meal and flight, Toothless watched Hiccup practice what he had learned and offered strategic advice. They were both focused on this because it was important, but also because they were waiting. Waiting for the raid. This time felt like the calm before a storm, and they both wanted to be as prepared as possible.

Training was happening every day now, so the next day Hiccup had to do it all over again. This time though, he was against Ruffnut. She didn't have the same raw strength Fishlegs put behind every blow, and she was using a spear. He managed to win four of their eight bouts. The last one was especially memorable. Ruffnut had stabbed at Hiccup, and in response, he had swept the blade of his scythe at her head, and when she ducked, used the blunt inner edge of the other blade to hook her feet and pull. Ruffnut was already off balance, and she found a spike at her chest when she made to rise.

"That was... impressive. That thing is cool, I give you that. Very sharp and spiky. You'll still get creamed by Astrid or Snotlout." Ruffnut sounded like she would enjoy watching that.

Hiccup helped her up. "Maybe. Maybe not. Neither of them uses a shield, and that gives me an advantage. I have better reach than Astrid, and better maneuverability than Snotlout." He knew he would probably lose against the people who had trained their entire lives to be warriors, but he was pretty sure he would at least make them work for it a little.

Toothless agreed. He wasn't looking forward to it though. As much as the dragon liked experiencing Hiccup fighting the other teens through the boy's senses, he was a bit worried. Astrid and Snotlout both had reasons to go further than sparring allowed and Hiccup was still a long way away from their level.

But it looked like Hiccup would be fighting them sooner than either he or Toothless thought. The very next day, Snotlout moved to face Hiccup in the arena.

"Time to show you what fighting a real warrior feels like. Try not to cry." Snotlout seemed almost nervous.

Hiccup wasn't sure why. Snotlout didn't seem scared of him. But he still seemed just a bit off. It made Hiccup cautious. Well, more cautious. His expectations were met as the fight began. Snotlout was constantly on the offensive and Hiccup had no time to retaliate in between strikes because of how hard Snotlout was hitting. That was worrying. One of these hits would do major damage if Hiccup was too slow. Snotlout didn't seem to be pulling his punches even slightly.

'He's getting more nervous now. Why? He's winning.' Toothless didn't like this at all. 'Go on the offensive, he can't move as fast as you can.' Toothless wanted this fight over, something wasn't right.

"I'm trying" was all Hiccup could grit out as he dodged yet another full strength chop. He saw a lucky chance a moment later and swung up the bottom half of his scythe as he moved to avoid the swing of Snotlout's sword. His scythe's lower spike stopped just below Snotlout's neck. Hiccup knew Snotlout felt it. The match was over in that moment.

'DUCK!' Toothless at that moment screeched in Hiccup's head.

Hiccup obeyed instinctively, still holding the spike to Snotlout's neck. Less than half a second later, the sword passed through where Hiccup's head would have been. That would have been a killing blow, and Snotlout had swung after the match was over. Toothless's warning had just saved his life.

Snotlout's eyes widened as Hiccup pushed the spike into his skin, just a little.

"In case you couldn't feel it before, the match is over Snotlout." Hiccup's voice was cold. He should have expected Snotlout to not give up so easily, even if he had lost.

Snotlout staggered away, hands raised. "Hey, sorry. Couldn't even tell it was there before." He was back to normal, arrogant and a bit angry. Probably angry that Hiccup had won. "Best two out of three?" He said that confidently and moved to pick up his sword.

Hiccup knew something was wrong. "No, I'd rather not."

"What? Come on, all fights are best out of three."

Hiccup was about to retort when Gobber interrupted them.

"Nae, all real fights are one outa one. Because one guy kills the other. Although Snotlout, I think in a real fight you mighta killed each other then. O' course, that last swipe o' yers was cheatin'. You were already dead. And Hiccup thought the match was over because it was. You could have killed him." Gobber's voice grew menacing as he spoke. "Sparring is great trainin', but it's dangerous if people cheat. Don' let me see you doin' tha again. Hiccup could easily have died." There was something else in Gobber's tone now, something directed specifically at Snotlout. Hiccup didn't know what it meant, but Snotlout paled. "Trainin's done for tha day. Asides, I got an announcement."

The other teens gathered around Gobber. Hiccup put his scythe on his back. That had sounded ominous. He wondered what it was.

"So Stoick, Ack, and I came up with a little trainin' exercise for tomorrow night." Gobber paused, letting that sink in. "Ye'll all spread out into the forest, anywhere's fair game. You will work alone. The goal is this. Whoever comes to the arena at sunrise with the most weapons wins. Ye can only get weapons by disarming Berkians who have volunteered to participate, and each other. They'll be in the woods too, and they will take your weapons if they can, though they can't win. Got it?"

Hiccup understood. And he didn't like it at all. Trainees wandering and exploring the woods at night, sneaking around. Berkians moving through the woods of the entire island, on alert, all night. He wasn't super worried about Toothless being seen. The cave was really well hidden at one end, and the other could be disguised before tomorrow night. The problem was, he would have to participate. Stoick's hand in this seemed like more than a coincidence. Hiccup remembered what he had said. He had listed distractions and other people as reasons for training in the forest. Stoick was now moving them all into the forest for an exercise. He was trying to make a point of some sort. Although, knowing that didn't mean Hiccup understood his point. But, if Hiccup won he would be proving to Stoick that he was doing something right. Both with his weapon, and his choice of 'training' locales.

Snotlout spoke up. "I'm definitely gonna win."

The twins had to argue that. "No, we'll win."

"Yeah!"

Gobber interrupted. "No, you two won't win. No teams. Period. You'll work alone, or I'll make ye run a hundred laps around the arena. And I'll make you count 'em yerself." The real threat was the last part. The twins couldn't count past nine, so he was threatening to force them to learn something and they were allergic to non-violent knowledge.

"Alright! Geez, no need to threaten. Sorry, sis, you're going down." Tuffnut dodged the punch thrown at him for once.

Hiccup said nothing. He wanted to win if only to spite Stoick a little. But he wouldn't risk Toothless. He faked a cough. "What do you think?"

'I think I'll be fine. The cave is near impossible to find in the day, let alone at night. And you are way stealthier than anyone here. You should crush them. Think of it as a field test for all the sneaking I taught you how to do. We've never had a chance to see you try it out for real.' He had a point. Unlike the running, Hiccup hadn't ever gotten a real chance to use his stealth training, unless going through the village before the last raid counted.

He had the rest of today and all of tomorrow to prepare. He left the arena with the other teens, all of whom were arguing about the upcoming event. Gobber hadn't said how many Berkians there would be in the woods participating. That made preparing harder. There might be two or three, or there might be twenty.

Hiccup made his way to the cave, thinking as he ran. They would need to disguise the exit that ended in the ravine. It was just asking to be explored. He would need to practice his stealth. And all of this was on top of flying and practicing with his scythe. Tomorrow would be a full day. Today, they only had time to do the usual flying and fishing.

The next day, Hiccup headed straight to the cave while Gobber was busy dealing with something over at the docks. Stoick was probably with him. It wasn't important to Hiccup. It just meant there was no one around to care where he spent his day.

'What do you wanna do first?' Toothless was well rested and ready for anything now that they had had their morning flight and meal.

Hiccup smiled as he outlined their first task. "We need to find a way to disguise the big cave exit. I was thinking, maybe a boulder?"

They looked around the nearby forest and found a boulder in short order. There were plenty of all shapes and sizes on a rocky island like Berk. Moving it turned out to be a bigger problem. Toothless was extremely strong, but he couldn't get leverage.

After a while, Hiccup remembered something they had both forgotten. "Hey, Toothless. Did we ever get that shield? You know, the one in the top of the tree?"

'I don't remember if we did or not. Why?'

Hiccup was looking around. "I was just remembering how it got there."

Toothless thought back, to the stuck shield which they had accidentally catapulted with... a lever. 'Do you think a lever would work here?'

Hiccup had found a long sturdy log. "It should. Help me with this."

The lever worked better than either of them had expected. When Toothless had put all of his weight on it, the lever started the boulder on a lopsided cascade down the forested hill.

Crash. Crash... THUD!

They both winced as it crashed towards the ravine. When they got there, Toothless and Hiccup discovered that the boulder had landed a few feet to the right of the cave entrance. One more careful use of the lever later and the boulder was leaned into the hole, sealing it quite firmly from the outside.

'That worked out well. It should be possible for me to move it from the inside, given the angle.'

"Really? Let's go in from the cliff and see if you can." Hiccup rode on Toothless as they worked their way around to the other side of the boulder-blocked passageway.

Toothless put his shoulder against the boulder and pushed firmly. He pulled back almost immediately. 'Yes, I could move it from here. It shifted with only a little bit of pressure.'

Hiccup was happy with that. It was another way out of the cave if something happened tonight. He had been worried about blocking the only entrance Toothless could use without flight or burning his way out the small exit. That wasn't a problem anymore. On to the next thing. "Think we can go flying again? I wanna make sure my map of the island's forests is accurate." This was more to kill time than anything else. The map would be almost useless in tracking moving targets at night.

'Sure.' Toothless was always up for a flight.

They ended up just goofing off in the sky for a few hours. Both Hiccup and Toothless had been feeling the strain of waiting in anticipation for weeks on end. This was a welcome chance to blow off steam without worrying about Hiccup needing to be back at the village so soon. Even so, they both felt like the remaining hours passed far too soon. Gobber had wanted the trainees to be at the arena an hour before sunset to officially start the event. Toothless eventually returned to the cave.

Hiccup left everything flight ready and only took his scythe and notebook with him. He wanted to be prepared for any eventuality. "Well, time to go. This should be an interesting night."

Toothless was feeling content, and excited. 'And I get the best seat in the world to watch!'

Hiccup laughed. He waved a finger admonishingly in front of the dragon. "Remember, no helping me with your senses unless I ask or you think something's wrong." Hiccup wanted to do this without cheating. He didn't think Toothless's advice really counted, but his superior senses definitely did. So, Hiccup had set some rules. Toothless could comment, he just couldn't give Hiccup hints. Hiccup didn't actually think Toothless would be able to restrain himself from giving last minute warnings, given his protective nature, but that was okay. There was always the possibility something could go wrong.

Hiccup ran through the forest, trying his best to focus. This was going to be fun. It was actually one of the only parts of Gobber's training he had ever looked forward to. A thought struck him. "Toothless, want to know something funny? We're the ones who caused this event."

'What? Stoick and Gobber and some guy named Ack did. As part of weapons training... that was started as a result of worry about the Outcasts... which was actually us. Hey, you're right! That is funny.'

Hiccup made it to the arena almost exactly an hour before sunset. The other teens were there. Snotlout and Astrid were taking this seriously and had dressed all in black. The twins were going all out, in their own way. They had apparently decided to darken their normal clothing, and faces, with charcoal. The end result was two Vikings who looked like they had fallen into a coal mine more than anything. Fishlegs was probably planning on hiding somewhere all night, so he didn't look very prepared. Hiccup hadn't changed. He was pretty sure he could still outrun anyone in the woods, even at night. It was supposed to be almost a full moon tonight, so visibility shouldn't be that bad. Movement would be more obvious than color.

There were also four adults, along with Gobber and Stoick himself. Stoick spared Hiccup a disapproving glare. This was the first time they had been face to face since that conversation over a week ago, when Stoick told him to learn how to fight with his weapon fast, or not at all, essentially, along with staying out of the woods. Hiccup had done one of those and entirely ignored the other.

'Hey, do that practice thing with your scythe while we wait.' Toothless didn't like the disapproval in Stoick's eyes. Hiccup would never think to show off like this, but if Toothless suggested it...

Hiccup pulled his scythe out. Fishlegs and the twins immediately backed a few steps away as he walked to the far side of the arena. He started swinging the scythe in the pointless exercise designed to demonstrate muscle memory. In a few moments he had lost himself in the exercise, ignoring everyone around him, moving faster and faster as he worked. He had been steadily improving with the scythe in general, and his skill was somewhere past adequate at this point. It was still quite masterful when compared to his abysmal skill with other weapons, except maybe the knife.

Stoick stared at his son's apparently absent-minded exercise and recalled a demonstration he saw on a visit to the Lava-Lout island on a diplomacy voyage nearly twenty years ago. The Louts had been doing it with a different weapon, but he remembered that it was to demonstrate control of a dangerous weapon without thought. He watched with something near amazement as Hiccup sped up, and then moved even faster, holding steady at a speed higher than Stoick had thought his clumsy son could move at all, let alone while spinning an extremely dangerous weapon around like it was an extension of himself without pause for what had to be several minutes now and still going.

Stoick was a veteran warrior, and now he could see what Hiccup might look like in a few years, once he had mastered this weapon. At that level of skill, Hiccup would be untouchable by things like axes and hammers. They simply wouldn't have the reach needed to get to him inside what would look like a cyclone of swinging blades. The spikes would be reserved for finishing moves against armored opponents. At that speed, one of those spikes plunged full speed would be able to end any opponent, especially as no armor was invincible. Hiccup would be able to find weak spots, and with that weapon, he only needed to hit them once.

What bothered Stoick was that, no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't reconcile what he knew of his son with how the weapon was built to be used. His son was intelligent and fast. Stoick was having no problem with that. The problem was that the weapon was so clearly designed to be used almost brutally in combat, stabbing and slashing before the enemy knew what hit him. It was a weapon that obviously was good for all-out offense. That didn't seem like the Hiccup he knew.

He moved over to Gobber, who was watching in satisfaction. "You didn't tell me he got the hang of it."

"Eh, I had figured he would'a showed you by now. He's still learning how to fight with it, bu' he beat Snotlout wi' it last trainin'."

Stoick was intrigued. "How?"

Gobber knew what he was really asking. "Just how the weapon is meant to be used. He ended it with a spike under Snotlout's chin. Didn't think the boy really 'ad it in 'im to use a weapon like tha' one. In a real fight, 'e woulda put Snotlout's head on a spike then and there." Gobber seemed troubled as he spoke. This wasn't how he thought of Hiccup either.

Neither of them knew that Hiccup was being influenced by an outside source. The combination of death threats, courtesy of Astrid, and the challenges he knew he would have to face in the future helped, but the real influence here was Toothless. Hiccup had spent so much time with Toothless ready to protect him recently, and he felt in his heart that he needed to be capable of returning the favor. Toothless was teaching him to do that, the only way a dragon knew how. With predatory aggression. Hiccup knew that for what it was, and he was okay with it. If it let him protect the people he cared about, he would go as far as he had to. He was still in complete control of himself, and it gave him a tool for when all else failed. That was what this was to Hiccup. Another option. One he would only use as a last resort, but an extremely effective one. He knew better than to limit himself out of fear of what he could do. He would trust his conscience to limit him when the time came.

Stoick knew none of this and was left to draw his own conclusions. His son was, by all appearances, turning into what would be a brutally efficient warrior. But one who worked alone. Stoick still didn't like that. Other weapons could be used in tandem, teamwork was possible. With this, what had Hiccup called it, a scythe? That was it. With this scythe, Hiccup was training to fight alone. Not what a chief should do. Maybe he would still teach Hiccup another weapon later. A hammer, perhaps. Still. His son was finally developing his Viking characteristics. Now if only he would gain some visible muscle…

Hiccup was oblivious to the thoughts of Stoick. He finally stopped his spinning scythe a few minutes later, when Gobber shouted to get everyone's attention.

"Alright then. It looks like Ack isn't coming, for whatever reason. Maybe he'll still be out there. Who knows. That does mean we are short one escort to start tonight's activities."

Stoick cleared his throat. "I'll take his place. In the whole exercise." He looked at Gobber, who was somewhat surprised. "Who was Ack escorting?"

Gobber checked the parchment stuck on his hook. He looked at it a moment, scratched his head, and then decided to turn it upside down. His face brightened. "Ah, Stoick, Ack was going to be escorting..." He quickly scratched something off of the parchment and scribbled in something else. "...Hiccup. What are the chances o' that?" He winked at Stoick and whirled to cut off one of the other Vikings.

"I thought I was-"

"Change o' plans, didn't ya get the memo? Ack was goin' to take Hiccup into the woods. Ye'll be taking Fishlegs. The rest o' you know who you're with." He addressed the teens. "They'll make sure yer all spread out in the forest to start. At fifteen minutes after sundown, the contest begins. Yer escorts, each other, and anyone out in the woods in tha' middle o' the night is fair game."

Gobber clapped his hands. "Well, go on then! Who knows what crazy adventures await ye? Oh, and anything short of badly injuring or killing is allowed. I'd advise ye stick on the safe side o' badly injured. If I determine it was intentional," he glared at Snotlout for some reason, "Ye'll be severely punished." He grabbed Tuffnut and headed out of the arena. "Let's get goin'. Got a full night ahead o' all of us!"

 ** _Author's Note:_** **Normally this is just for replying to guest reviews that need more than a generic 'thanks for the review.' However, _Stig92_** **raised a good point that I felt I should expound on here.**

' **How long has this story lasted in universe? The way you present Hiccup running (both in skill and stamina/fitness) raising above all others seems like something that couldn't happen in days weeks, maybe even months of hard training, especially since the others aren't exactly couch potatoes either.'**

**Ah, I was wondering if that would come up. I strove to find a realistic rate of progression, and at the same time balance the demands of story, without unrealistically lengthening the timeline. Though it may feel unnaturally quick (and I can't argue that if it does) there are quite a few contributing factors I feel contributes to how this isn't too much of a stretch.**

**First, to answer the question… about a month now. Toothless started training Hiccup within a few days of their meeting, so at least four weeks of consistent training by the end of this chapter.**

**Skill: This is the easier one. Because Toothless is advising, the skill isn't entirely Hiccup. Speaking from experience, it doesn't take too long to get used to following precise instructions quickly and efficiently, even if you don't know what they'll be beforehand. Hiccup is figuring it out, but at the moment he isn't the skilled one, Toothless is.**

**Stamina: The harder one, and a combination of several factors. The first is that Hiccup likely got a lot of running practice (not diligent or good form, but still) in the past due to raids, Snotlout, and general lack of other means of defense. The second is that he's light, almost thin, and has long legs. Good qualities for runners. Third, he's got motivation and an effective teacher. Fourth, the height of his abilities at this point (outrunning Astrid and during the raid) were both relatively short sprints more focused on the agility portion rather than stamina. And he used pretty much everything he had with both of those.**

**As a final note… Hiccup beating the others isn't at all a stretch, because in this universe they (with the partial exception of Astrid and Snotlout) aren't battle-ready. It's been implied that dragon training is their first official combat preparation, and I highly doubt Fishlegs or the Twins were on any sort of personal training program. As for Astrid and Snotlout… Viking training focuses on strength and stamina… not running speed. No Viking would work to improve how effectively they can retreat! At least, that's the logic. Also, they have no experience running in the dense forest. Hiccup would be much harder pressed to beat Astrid on level, unobstructed ground.**

**I'm glad to see the question I've been half dreading and half anticipating asked. Hopefully this is a satisfactory answer.**


	18. Chapter 18

_**Author's Note:** _ **Despite illness and fatigue, my foresight grants you all a chapter right on schedule. I spent the last two days in an altered state of mind (though I can't blame medication as I wasn't using any), and the results of that time have been published as a new one-shot. I've already been told I should get sick more often. I'm not entirely sure how to take that...**

Hiccup followed Stoick through the forest. Gobber had caught up to them to tell Stoick where he and Hiccup would be starting. It was eerily near the cliff Hiccup and Toothless had used for flight testing, right in the deepest part of the forest.

Stoick was the first to break the silence. "I don't like that you defied me. Even if I can see you specifically avoided agreeing to train in the arena instead of the woods." His voice was neutral in tone. There was a hint of wry annoyance in that last part though.

Hiccup didn't know what to say. He felt that there was a 'but' following that statement.

"But you have proved you can wield that weapon effectively. I won't make you learn another now. I will still have you learn another, more Viking-like weapon, but that can wait until after you kill that Nightmare."

Hiccup resented that. Not 'will you learn another weapon later?', but 'you will learn another weapon later'. Stoick gave Hiccup no choice whatsoever. Hiccup mentally compared that to Toothless and his teachings. He was sure that if he had not wanted to learn what Toothless offered to help him with, Toothless would have accepted that decision. He might have tried really hard to change Hiccup's mind, but he didn't try to make his decisions for him.

"Sure." Either he'd have won the village's acceptance, or left for good by then. He felt comfortable agreeing to anything set to happen after the Nightmare. Because that would mean things had come to a head, and everything had played out. One way or another.

Stoick was silent. They laboriously, at least for Stoick, worked through the underbrush. Eventually, they reached the assigned spot. Stoick stopped, hs boots crushing a small bush. "This is it." He looked up through the dense forest. "It must be sundown. Fifteen minutes. I hope we run into each other sometime tonight. I'll show you what a warrior with a real Viking's weapon can do." He hefted his hammer.

Hiccup fumed at that. He knew he probably couldn't take Stoick. Heck, he couldn't take Astrid, and she probably stood no chance against Stoick. He smiled fakely. "Yeah, right. Good luck catching me." He spun and ran off the way they had come, going into top speed. Of course, he didn't see Stoick's face as he cleared an area it had taken them five minutes to cross in under thirty seconds. There would be nothing to see, knowing Stoick. Certainly not pride.

Stoick stared in annoyance, which swiftly turned to something almost, but not quite embarrassment. He considered how slowly he had been making his way here, and realized Hiccup had been accurate with his derision. Stoick could never catch him in here if that uncanny turn of speed was any indication. Maybe he had learned something from his time in here besides how to goof off. Still. Stoick was going to catch him. If he could sneak up on him without Hiccup noticing. He might be big, but he could be fairly sneaky.

Hiccup ran for a while. He had no destination, so once he was far enough from Stoick he stopped for a moment and pulled out his notebook. He noted with happiness that the moon was casting just enough light to see what he had drawn. The map of the forest received an 'X' where he and Stoick had been assigned to start. Gobber would have spread them apart fairly evenly, and at an equal starting distance from the village. A line was carefully drawn through the forest to mark that area. He would sneak along that line, and see what he found.

There were a few points of interest. That line drew pretty close to the cove. He would have to check there, discretely, and see if anyone was stupid enough to set up something in there. Hiding in an area with only one exit was a bad idea. Maybe he'd find Fishlegs in there though. The less brave teen might like the idea of relative safety enough to risk it. He decided to head in that direction first.

He also noted the locations where the line crossed the river. They would be out here all night, and the other teens hadn't brought supplies, which seemed like an oversight on Astrid's part. He knew there would be a few fish in the cave, where he had left them earlier that day. Toothless wouldn't eat old fish, but Hiccup could. He had supplies sorted. But the others didn't, and so the river was another good place to check. Hiccup was going to actively hunt the others out because he was confident he could get close enough undetected to identify them and determine if he could take them out safely.

He moved silently through the woods. After about thirty minutes he heard something unusual. It sounded like someone muttering. But as far as he knew, only he muttered randomly to himself. The source was revealed as Hiccup crept closer.

Ack was the mutterer. And from the looks of it, he missed the meet-up because he was roaring drunk. That was poor planning. He seemed to think he could still participate if the fact that he was out here was any indication. Hiccup decided that Ack would be his first mark. Time to sneak for real.

Ack had sat down on a fallen log and set his ax down. He was aware that he was drunk. He wondered where everyone was. After a minute, his fogged mind decided to go back to the village. He got up and reached for his ax. Only to find that it was gone. He exploded into a flurry of drunken curses as he realized that he'd already been eliminated.

Hiccup's biggest problem at the moment was not exploding from holding in his laughter. Ack was in a towering fury, aided by his state of extreme inebriation. He didn't see Hiccup mere inches away, and that was funny. Hiccup decided to let Ack know who had beaten him. "Sorry Ack, you need to go home. You're too drunk to play." He ran off as fast as he could.

'That was cruel. Go do it to someone else. It's fun to watch.'

Indeed, it was cruel. Ack blamed everything he saw on his state of extreme drunkenness and wondered what was wrong with him. Why was it that every time he had hallucinations, he hallucinated Hiccup running at unnatural speeds? Maybe the gods were trying to tell him something. He should probably take up running... Ack stumbled back to the village, trying to jog in the dense woods and failing miserably. He wouldn't remember anything come morning.

Hiccup headed towards the village, at as high a speed as he could manage with only moonlight to see by.

'What are you doing?' Toothless sounded confused. 'The village isn't part of the game.'

"I'm not going all the way there. I'm going to hide the weapons I take near the forest edge, so I can come and get them at the end of the game."

'Smart. Why not hide them here?' Toothless was referring to the cave he was physically in at the moment.

"I don't want to draw attention to the cave. I need to stay away from there as much as possible. I might not even come back for the fish later." Hiccup finished burying the ax at the base of a very distinctive tree he had known about for years. He would put the weapons here.

'If you say so.' Toothless would prefer Hiccup to eat something if he was going to be at this all night, but he understood Hiccup's logic.

It had been an hour, and Hiccup had taken one weapon. Everyone else was still out there. That included Astrid, Snotlout, Stoick, and apparently Gobber. Those were the people Hiccup didn't want to run into, anyway. Everyone else was fair game.

Now was as good a time as any to check the cove. He moved stealthily the entire way, not taking any chances. He decided against entering the cove via the crack in the rock, instead moving to the edge. That was when he saw the fire.

"So much for stealth." There was no way Fishlegs was stupid enough to light a campfire in the middle of the cove. This had to be someone else. And there wasn't anyone by the fire. Hiccup had a sneaking suspicion as to what was really going on.

He looked at the entrance to the cove. Sure enough, there was someone hidden by it, ready to ambush anyone who entered. He couldn't tell who, but the size made him think it was one of the teens. But not Fishlegs, it wasn't big enough for that.

The moonlight glinted off of two twin crescents, and Hiccup identified the lurker as Astrid. One of the four he wasn't going to fight directly. He was about to move away from the edge of the cove when he heard something else.

Sticks were breaking, one after another. Slowly. Like someone was trying to sneak, and doing a terrible job. It was moving towards the cove entrance. This was going to be interesting.

"Who are you betting on bud? Astrid, or the mystery challenger?" Hiccup whispered this, confident he wouldn't be heard from this distance.

'Astrid. Though I can see who the challenger is, so I have an advantage.'

The mysterious figure was about to pass by where Astrid hid. She attacked silently as the figure passed, aiming to disarm them. The figure whirled, and their weapons clashed.

"Ha! Wait, Astrid? What are you doing here?" Snotlout was obviously not expecting to find Astrid in the cove.

"What am I doing here? What are you doing here? Wait, let me guess. Looking for Hiccup?" Astrid lowered her ax and disengaged, circling Snotlout.

Hiccup and Toothless could hear all of this, and Hiccup decided to see how it would play out.

"Yup. I, uh, figured he'd be here. You know, because this is his place." Snotlout seemed vaguely uncomfortable. "Uh, can we talk for a second Astrid? It's important."

Astrid didn't lower her guard. "About what?"

Snotlout's voice hardened. "Hiccup. I have a proposition for you."

Hiccup did not like the sound of that. Toothless growled wordlessly.

Astrid moved over to the fire and sat down. "Sure. We can sit in the open, no one would attack two of us at once."

Snotlout moved over and sat on the other side of the fire. Neither of them relaxed their weapons.

Astrid broke the silence. "So, what about Hiccup? You should know, he hasn't been here since the day we all came here. I check every once in a while. Never any new tracks."

Snotlout seemed to gain confidence at this admission. "I knew you did. You've been trailing him into the woods, right?"

'What?' Toothless whispered.

Astrid grimaced. "Yeah, but he always runs everywhere. I don't know how he does it. I can't even track him when he runs."

Hiccup breathed a silent sigh of relief.

Snotlout looked unhappy. "How can he not leave tracks? He's still running, he should be leaving a path of some kind."

Astrid shrugged. Throughout this entire conversation, she had been more candid than Hiccup had ever seen. "I think it's because when he runs, he leaps over obstacles, but lands on solid surfaces every time. He doesn't break or brush against anything, and his direction changes randomly. I can never follow his trail more than a few dozen yards before it disappears."

Hiccup shivered. She was talking about him like he was prey, and she the predator.

Snotlout slammed his hand on the ground. "I hoped you would know where he goes. But it doesn't matter."

Astrid smiled. "Of course it doesn't. Let me guess. You've been trying to catch Hiccup alone, but you can't anymore. Ironic, given now you actually need to. Spitelout is getting impatient. Am I correct so far?"

Hiccup blanched. He recalled a time early on in his association with Toothless when the dragon had been sure he was being followed. That must have been Snotlout. Hiccup had a terrible feeling he knew what was going on now. Mention of Spitelout, Snotlout's father, really gave it away.

Snotlout smiled at Astrid, a cruel smile. "So you know. You've known and never said anything. Does that mean you support my little cause?"

Astrid laughed. "Hardly, but not for the reason you think. I won't help you. I plan on offing him myself if the Nightmare doesn't. It doesn't help me to kill him before then. Why can't Spitelout just wait? He's waited for years already, for Thor knows what reason. Besides. You want my help because you can't do it yourself. I won't kill to help you save face in front of your father. Man up and do it yourself, if you can. Or just wait. The next raid could be any day, and I'm going to make sure Hiccup doesn't survive the forty-eight hours after it. I will, or the Nightmare will."

Snotlout seemed taken aback by that. Then he smiled again, his confidence returning as the meaning of her words sunk in. "All I needed to know. I'll tell dad you're going to handle it. He'll be happy to hear I don't have to get my hands dirty. But why? Why do you want to let the Nightmare kill him? You could do it yourself tonight like I was going to after I messed up in training yesterday." He sounded genuinely confused.

"All you need to know is that I'm going to be the best dragon-killer of our generation. Hiccup is in the way of that. You can be happy with just being the next chief, right?"

Snotlout could definitely be satisfied with that. "Of course. I can settle for only being chief. You have fun. I've got a bet running that I can steal the twins' helmets without them noticing." He exited the cove, smiling widely.

Astrid remained at the fire for a moment, before going back to the cove entrance, resuming her hidden position.

'I'm going to kill him.' Toothless sounded entirely serious. 'Right now.'

Hiccup was still shocked at what he had learned, but he knew that was a bad idea. "NO! Stay there. I'm coming back to the cave. We'll discuss what to do then. Promise me you'll stay there until we talk." He was desperate to keep Toothless in the cave. Who knew how many Vikings in the forest between them.

'Fine. But run fast.' Toothless was managing to send the mental equivalent of a threatening growl. 'I won't wait long.'

Hiccup ran. He ran with no regard for personal safety or stealth. He just wanted to get to safety as fast as possible, so he could process what had just happened. That was the plan until he almost ran into a charcoal covered figure.

"Hey! Wait, Hiccup? This must be my lucky day! I wanna try out that scythe." Tuffnut was standing in Hiccup's way, as he had been running along a dried riverbed, and the banks were too high to easily climb. Tuffnut advanced with his mace, leering at Hiccup's scythe.

"Sorry Tuff. You're in the way."

Tuffnut had no time to decipher Hiccup's seemingly unconcerned response. Hiccup grabbed his scythe and swept it in an arc as he moved it from his back to his hands. Tuffnut stumbled back. Hiccup advanced, quickly knocking Tuffnut's mace aside and actually stabbing through the wooden base with the spike of his scythe. He wasn't really concentrating on the fight, his mind was still reeling from what he had heard. He yanked back, and Tuff's wooden mace came with the spike.

Tuffnut was wide-eyed, looking at the hand Hiccup had stolen his mace out of. "How..." He raised his hands as he realized he was disarmed. "Um, I'll just be going now..." He jumped up one of the banks, scrabbling for purchase. "Return that in good condition!" And then he was gone, off to find his sister and steal her spear.

Hiccup was already gone. And unbeknownst to both of them, they hadn't been alone. Ruffnut stepped out of the brush, from which she had been shadowing her brother, waiting to steal his mace.

"Well, that stinks." She considered what she had just seen. "Probably shouldn't mess with Hiccup. Wonder where Snotlout is?" She moved off, headed away from where Snotlout currently was, not that she knew it.

Hiccup finally made it to the small entrance to the cave. He dove in and then realized he still couldn't see in the pitch-black cave. "Toothless. I can't see."

'I'm right here. Get on my back, I'll take you to the sea exit. There's light there.' Toothless was literally three feet from Hiccup's head. And growling, deep in his chest. He snapped, his teeth clacking together quite distinctly, giving Hiccup a very good idea of exactly where the very agitated dragon was.

Hiccup was pretty sure that scraping sound he could hear under the growl was claws carving new furrows in the rock.

"Okay. We can talk there." Hiccup got on, and they took off down the black corridors.

'We're here. Now, do you mind explaining why I can't disembowel Snotlout?'

That might have been funny if Toothless hadn't been so serious. Hiccup sat at the mouth of the cave and looked back at the seething black dragon, who was still scratching lines into the smooth tunnel floor with his claws. "Calm down. Nothing has changed. Now we know Snotlout has been trying to kill me. That's all. And Astrid, in her own twisted way, has convinced him he doesn't need to bother. So I only have one currently homicidal classmate now, not two." Hiccup was more affected than he let on about the news that his cousin had been trying to kill him, but he didn't need to fuel Toothless's protective rage.

'What is wrong with human families? Your father doesn't listen, your cousin is trying to kill you, and if I remember what you said correctly, the person named Spitelout who's pressuring Snotlout to end you now is your Uncle. Seriously. Are all human families this bad, or do you just have really bad luck?' Toothless wasn't mad at Hiccup, he was mad at life in general now.

"I think it's just my family. Other people have problems, but this seriously takes the cake." Hiccup really didn't like being associated with those he was related to by blood anymore. The only good one might have been his mother, and she was dead. Toothless was just summing it up. But he felt he had to point something out. "Not my whole family. I count you, and you aren't like that." He smiled. "Although, you do want to kill my cousin and probably uncle as well."

Toothless huffed. 'Because they're trying to kill you.'

Hiccup sighed. "Revenge. The Viking way. You're better than that."

'Not revenge, protection. You have no guarantee that Snotlout or Spitelout won't get impatient and try again at any time.'

Hiccup could tell he wasn't going to straight up convince Toothless not to kill Snotlout. He needed to offer something to assuage the dragon's protective instincts. "How about this. You don't kill Snotlout, and I'll sleep here in the cave instead of going back to the village at night. That way, I can avoid Snotlout almost entirely. Stoick won't notice. I went a week without seeing him when we did sleep in the same house."

Hiccup considered this proposition a win-win. He really didn't feel safe in the village anymore, and sleeping there was out of the question because Hiccup knew Spitelout. He might agree to wait, but he was just as likely to demand Snotlout try again anyway.

Toothless mulled it over. Finally, he opened his eyes to signal he had come to a decision. 'Fine. But if he tries again, I get to disembowel him. If you want, you can help when I do.'

That was an offer Hiccup hoped Toothless would never make again. "Agreed. But no, I won't help you disembowel Snotlout. Gross."

Toothless didn't comment on that. 'So, what will you do now? The night is only a few hours old. Oh, and you're here, so you can take the fish.'

Hiccup considered it. He didn't really feel like playing anymore, but he still wanted to win. Or, barring that, he would settle for stealing Stoick's hammer. Of the two, just winning straight up might be easier. He knew he definitely didn't want anyone turning in his scythe to be counted in the morning, so he would have to be careful. Which reminded him. He pulled the mace off of the spike of his scythe. Toothless stared at it.

'When did you get that?'

"Tuffnut was in my way on the run here."

Toothless nosed it, then reared back in disgust. 'I don't even want to know where that's been. It smells like he left it in one of your outhouses overnight.'

Hiccup laughed. That had been a fun thing to teach the Fury, what an outhouse was and why the dragon should really not use Hiccup's senses when he was in there. Toothless had almost thrown up, and all Hiccup had done to prove his point was open the door. A sensitive sense of smell wasn't always a good thing.

"I guess I won't leave it here, then."

'You better not.'

"Or maybe I should now that I-"

'I'll throw it and you out if you do.' Toothless loomed threateningly.

Hiccup laughed, taking the offending weapon. "Got it, remove the mace."

Hiccup eventually ended up spending the rest of his night rather tamely. He would find someone in the woods, shadow them for a while, and steal their weapon if the opportunity presented itself, which it usually did. He would then take it and bury it with the rest, under the tree. Gobber had apparently gotten quite a few Vikings involved, so Hiccup had plenty of targets over the course of the night.

He didn't run into any of the other teens, and he also never encountered Stoick. He did, however, find Gobber, who was asleep. Hiccup decided that stealing his arm would be cruel. He took Gobber's parchment with the assignments instead, just to prove he was there. Toothless thought it was a nice touch.

When the sun rose, Hiccup returned to his tree and unburied the weapons. In addition to Gobber's parchment, Ack's weapon, and Tuffnut's mace, he had managed to get four other Vikings' various armaments. All in all, Hiccup had to figure out how to carry six weapons and a parchment in addition to his own scythe. He managed it without cutting himself more than once.

He entered the arena, trying to see over the pile of weapons in his arms. No one else was there yet, so he sat down, and set the pile of weapons by his side. Fishlegs was the next to arrive, and he had managed to acquire Ruffnut's spear, of all things. That was all he had. He looked at Hiccup's pile and sighed.

"Wow. The only person I found all night was Ruffnut, and she was wrestling her brother for this. I just picked it up and walked away." Fishlegs gestured with the spear.

Hiccup laughed. "I took Tuff's mace. They were probably fighting because Tuff wanted another weapon."

At that moment, the twins walked in, dirtier than they had been with just the charcoal, and weaponless to boot.

"YOU!" Ruffnut pointed at Fishlegs.

"AND YOU!" Tuffnut pointed at Hiccup. Hiccup raised an eyebrow, and Tuffnut reconsidered. "Well, no, you took it from me fair and square. Never mind." Tuffnut turned to Fishlegs. "YOU!"

That was when Gobber showed up. "Knock it off you two. It's too early for this."

Hiccup smiled. "Have a nice nap, Gobber?"

Gobber answered absentmindedly. "Yeah, found a great spot no one would find and decided... wait a second. How did ye know abou' tha'?"

In answer, Hiccup waved Gobber's parchment. "I figured it would be cruel to take your hook arm. So I took this instead."

Gobber grumbled something about inconsiderate teenagers and grabbed the parchment from Hiccup. "I ain't countin' that."

Snotlout walked in, brandishing three swords and a mace, besides his own weapon. He deflated significantly when he saw Hiccup's pile.

Before he could say anything, Astrid entered the ring, followed by Stoick. Astrid didn't even have her ax, oddly enough. Stoick was carrying a massive pile of weapons. There were easily ten in his arms. He dumped them on the ground. Astrid's ax was among them.

Gobber raised an eyebrow. "I said that only the teens' points counted. So none o' that matters."

Stoick nodded. "I know, but Astrid had them all on her when she decided to attack me. I took them all to teach her a lesson." He smiled. "The lesson was, don't try to fight when weighed down by the trophies of past battles."

Gobber cleared his throat. "Oh, did any of ye happen to see Ack out there?"

Hiccup nodded. "He was really drunk, so I stole his weapon and told him to go home." He held up Ack's weapon as proof.

Gobber laughed. "Well done Hiccup. That'll teach him to show up drunk to a competition." He looked at the respective weapon piles. "Alrighty. It looks like Hiccup wins with six points. Snotlout came in second with four points. Fishlegs came in third with one point. Astrid, Ruffnut, and Tuffnut tied for last place." He looked up. "Honestly not wha' I expected."

They all redistributed weapons, and Gobber took charge of the ones that had been taken off of the adults, who weren't there at the moment. Then they left to get some sleep. Hiccup discretely left the arena and made the run to Toothless's cave for what had to be the tenth time in the last twenty-four hours. He met Toothless in the forest, and the dragon let him ride the rest of the way back. He was wiped out from a full twenty-four hours of activity.

Toothless had pushed over the boulder, which was how he met Hiccup halfway. He carried the boy back through the cave and prepared his wing-tent for him. Hiccup needed his rest, after the craziness he had gone through.

Hiccup slept for a full twenty-four hours. Toothless slept for most of that time too, as he had stayed up the same amount of time, albeit that he spent a large part of it sitting in a cave. They both woke up fresh and rested on the morning of the next day. It was a bit humid outside. Hiccup looked out to sea, and he could see a nasty storm front slowly rolling in. It looked like it would reach Berk by nightfall.

A storm was almost upon them.

_**Author's Note:** _ **Wow, last chapter had quite a few guest reviews.**

_**Razor95:** _ **"A great chapter to what is a great story.**

**Looking forward to more awkward angsty stoick hiccup stuff in the woods. I hope hiccup finally explains why he picked a weapon that makes him fight alone or stoick witnesses him fighting others thst kngorm him.**   
**Basically i think he will learn hiccup doesnt or has no reason to trust anyone (in the village) to fight beside him and stoick learns just how much his son has been isolated by his fellow vikings and how precarious a position that would put hiccup in as chief. Just an idea.**   
**Looking forward to more and fun disarmament."**

**Thanks for the praise. However, I will admit I can't quite puzzle out what thst kngorm means. We see now that there was far less father-son interactions than you guessed. What you guessed may very well have sent the story in another direction if it occured. Another time, perhaps.**

**Four Assorted guests: Thanks for the support. And of course, a thank you to all of the commenters with accounts. Things get serious starting next chapter (if that wasn't made clear enough by the blatant foreshadowing). Cast your bets now!**


	19. Chapter 19

Hiccup and Toothless lazed away most of the day, watching the storm clouds approach. They went flying a few times, but something in the air unsettled Toothless, so they didn't stay up very long. Toothless figured it was the oncoming storm.

'Night Furies don't generally like lightning. It is the weapon of Skrill, our natural enemy.' Toothless was in a passive mood, curled up in the cave mouth, watching the distant storm. Hiccup was sitting next to him, trying to draw it. He spared a thought for the notebook he'd entirely devoted to a certain project, but it was still in the forge. It wasn't important.

"Why are you guys enemies?"

'I'm not sure. We're both pretty rare species. Apparently, Skrill always call us "Usurpers," whatever that's supposed to mean. If there's no storm, the Night Fury will always win in a fight. If there is a storm, the Skrill usually wins, but not always. They always attack on sight though. Storm or not.'

They whiled away the day like that. Hiccup really didn't see any reason to return to the village. He would just come back here at night anyway. Everyone was likely still sleeping off the activities of the night before last. He had been, and he was used to sleepless nights.

Night hadn't quite fallen yet. The storm was minutes away from breaking. Toothless's ears shot straight up.

"What is it bud?" Hiccup was alarmed.

'Not tonight. Why would it be tonight? But it is, isn't it.' Toothless turned to Hiccup and said the word Hiccup most anticipated and most feared. 'Raid.'

Hiccup didn't waste time asking if Toothless was sure. He definitely was. Hiccup jumped onto the saddle, and they took off.

Night hadn't technically fallen, but the storm clouds made that irrelevant, and all was dark. Hiccup accessed Toothless's senses entirely. The Fury had the advantage in every single sense right now. Hiccup would share those advantages.

They moved Toothless's tailfins as one and shot to a spot high above the village. The cloud bank was nearly upon the village. They had grabbed the rock in the cave, and Hiccup was carrying it, hunched over it in the saddle, as had been decided earlier. Toothless would fly, Hiccup would drop the rock.

Toothless landed on the mountain, camouflaged against the dark stone surface in the darkness.

They waited. The storm was now over the village, but it had yet to break. There hadn't been a single bolt of lightning yet. No rain had fallen, despite the immense downpour clearly waiting to be unleashed.

"How could you tell? They aren't even here yet." Hiccup wasn't doubting Toothless, but he was curious as to how that worked. He looked down at the village and realized that they were preparing for a raid. For that matter, how did the village always seem to know a moment ahead of time?

'It's more of a feeling. Live through enough raids, and you can just tell. I bet some of the older Vikings can feel it too.' Toothless had noticed the village preparing.

Hiccup stared at the ominous clouds and wondered what they were waiting for. Then he saw a wing flick through one of the lighter clouds. "They're above the storm!"

The raid began, the common dragons plummeting through the cloud cover to attack and destroy. But Hiccup couldn't find it in himself to care. He and Toothless were there to fight one very specific dragon, who had not yet shown herself. The clouds were almost black now, and if it wasn't for Toothless's night vision, Hiccup would have seen absolutely nothing.

They heard the rising ballistic screech. They rose as one, racing out to meet the Unholy Offspring of Lightning and Death Itself. The plan was, get the Queen's attention, get her to follow them, lead her to the cove. Then get above her and knock her out, Toothless flying and Hiccup dropping the rock. It was simple, difficult, and risky. They didn't care. Hiccup would have done much crazier to rescue his own mother.

They stopped above the center of the village. They would get her attention after her first attack when she would be closer to the ground. She blasted a tower as she dove past it, hitting it from only a few feet away, an explosion of plasma illuminating her silhouette.

In that moment, the storm broke.

The first bolt of lightning struck the raiding Night Fury dead on.

Hiccup and Toothless were paralyzed in horror. She had fallen limp out of the sky, straight into the village square. She had never even seen them, and now she was most likely dead or would be in seconds if she wasn't already. They hovered there, invisible to the Vikings.

The raiding dragons paid them no mind. They would continue raiding until the Queen took control of another dragon and resumed command.

Stoick stared in utter disbelief. He walked over to the downed black dragon of death. He thought absent-mindedly that they'd have to change the book. It might be the offspring of death itself, but not lightning. Thor had disproven that tonight. This was a message from the gods, that was obvious. But what? Thor struck a dragon no one had ever seen out of the sky with a single bolt of lightning. Why?

The dragon's chest heaved. It was unconscious, but not dead.

Stoick laughed as he saw the twisting of fate. He turned and addressed the few villagers who had seen what happened. He had to shout to be heard over the rain. The storm had finally broken.

"We needed a Nightmare! Thor judged my boy, and found the Nightmare not good enough! SO HE SENT US A NIGHT FURY INSTEAD!" That last sentence was shouted at full force, Stoick's voice carrying further than ever before, tinged with joy and disbelief.

Hiccup and Toothless were closer now, a few dozen feet above the crowd, and listening in utter horror. There was no way for them to get Toothless's mother out of there, not while she was surrounded by armed Vikings.

Stoick continued speaking. "Gobber, Ack! Get over here and restrain the beast! We'll put it in the Nightmare pen. Tomorrow, Hiccup will kill it in the arena. A fitting way for the son of a chief to prove himself a Viking worthy of Berk!" He stepped away, and a dozen Vikings led by Gobber and Ack swathed the dragon in chains and rope. Once it was so entangled it looked more rope than dragon, they began the laborious process of dragging it to the arena. For Hiccup to kill in front of the entire village in the morning.

Hiccup and Toothless might have intervened at that point, secrets notwithstanding. But they were abruptly struck with another problem. Literally.

Hiccup stared at the bound and unconscious dragon being dragged towards the arena. "We can attack when they're on the bridge. We'll knock her off and catch her, to carry her to-" He was cut off as Toothless was rammed into from the side. Dragon and rider flew sideways, being shoved by something. They landed heavily, rolling to a stop.

Toothless got to his feet. Nothing was damaged, including his saddle and tailfin, but his side hurt. He turned to check Hiccup frantically. Hiccup was standing up from where he had been thrown. The rock they had planned to use was nowhere to be found.

Hiccup shook his head. "I'm fine. What was that?"

At that moment a third creature landed in the clearing. It was a large Monstrous Nightmare. Bigger than the normal size. It was blood red, and its eyes were strange. They had no pupils, just pure yellow orbs of malice. No, it had pupils upon closer inspection, but they were so slitted they were almost invisible.

Toothless flared his wings. 'You!'

The dragon took a step forward. 'So you are not dead after all.'

Toothless was the one who had said that, but it was what the Nightmare had actually said. He was relaying what the other dragon said so Hiccup could hear.

Toothless spoke for himself, both to Hiccup and the Nightmare. 'You're the Queen. Ran out of Night Furies, so of course, you just take over another dragon. Go away. Or I'll be forced to deprive you of yet another useful slave.' Those last words dripped with derision and scorn.

The Nightmare flared up, literally lighting its own body on fire. 'You're much better than this body. I think I'll take you back.'

Toothless had no time to react as a Gronckle dropped literally out of the sky onto him, landing on his back and slamming him into the ground.

Hiccup noticed that an instant before that happened, the Nightmare's pupils returned to normal. He understood, in the corner of his mind that wasn't panicking, that the Queen had temporarily taken control of the Gronckle, in order to hit Toothless from above.

The Gronckle's eyes returned to normal, and it buzzed off, seemingly unconcerned with its temporary loss of control. The Queen was back in the Nightmare now, judging by what it did next.

Hiccup ran to stand in front of Toothless, who was definitely not going to be able to defend himself. When the Gronckle had hit him, Hiccup had felt the link between them snap, just like the last time Toothless had been knocked unconscious. He hated that emptiness in his head but ignored it. He pulled out his scythe and held it threateningly. "I know you understand me, Queen. You'll take him over my dead body."

The Nightmare snorted. It lunged at Hiccup.

He swung the scythe around, digging a furrow in the dragon's chin as he dodged. He felt terrible hurting any dragon, especially one who wasn't in control of their own actions, but he had no choice. For all the good that it did. His dodge had been necessary, but it took him out of the Nightmare's path. The dragon leaped on top of Toothless, and its claws tightened around his unconscious form. Before Hiccup could get to it, it flew.

The Queen flew away with the limp form of Toothless between her talons, and the raid ended.

The Queen had gotten something infinitely more valuable than food. Namely, the Night Fury she had assumed dead. Once she looked it in the eye, she would once again have a Night Fury among her slaves, to use as she wished. The raiding party flew towards Helheim's gate. Straight to the nest.

Hiccup felt horrible. Not only had they never even gotten a chance to save Toothless's mother, Toothless was gone, and most likely a short flight away from being a slave again. The thing he hated above all else. And Hiccup had failed. Failed to protect him. He had never even had a chance of fighting that Nightmare off. Maybe in a year or two, with more practice.

But he was done feeling sorry for himself, done panicking. He knew that acting emotionally instead of planning in times like this lead to disaster. So he thought. He needed a way to the nest. And he was scheduled to face Toothless's mother in the ring in the morning.

Oh, the irony.

He had to assume she would be out of the Queen's control, and if the Viking method of tranquilization was any indication, she would be knocked unconscious at least twice before morning by various Vikings whenever she stirred. So he had to hope she would have her full memories back, like Toothless after his second blow to the head on the cliffs. Hiccup was formulating a plan. He would face Toothless's mother in the ring, and he would try to get her to trust him. They would break out of the arena, and go rescue Toothless.

He knew it was a stupid plan. There was so much that could go wrong, he didn't even know where to start. The only things he had going for him was his affinity for dragons, especially Night Furies, and the pure insanity of what he would attempt. But he had no options. He would do this, or Toothless's mother would die to some other Viking, Toothless would be stuck as a slave forever, and the raids, the war would never end.

He stumbled back into the village. The damage was light because the raid had ended so soon.

The Vikings all assumed it was because the raiding dragons had lost their Night Fury. They didn't know it was because the raiding dragons had found a Night Fury.

Hiccup found Stoick. He had nothing to prepare, no final arrangements. The only thing he could do between now and entering the ring was think. Try to figure out the best way to win a hostile dragon's trust while in an arena surrounded by bloodthirsty spectators.

"Ah, son. Have you heard the news?" Stoick sounded jubilant.

"Yes. I'll be waiting by the arena gate." Hiccup put no emotion into his voice. He was done. Done pretending, done faking things. That at least had happened. One way or another, in the next twenty-four hours it would all be over.

Astrid had heard what had happened, though she hadn't seen it. And she cursed Stoick and Thor for making it happen. She had wanted to be the best. Now, being the best didn't mean killing the most Monstrous Nightmares. Whether or not Hiccup succeeded, she would have to top fighting a Night Fury. No one had done that before. Being the best meant killing Night Furies. Thor and Stoick had upped the ante.

She also had a sneaking suspicion. Hiccup wouldn't be able to kill that dragon. It would escape, taking with it Astrid's best shot at success. It might have been paranoia or intuition. But Astrid stopped by the armory and took a bola. She would carry it with her. She would take it to the arena. And she would take one of the highest seats. She could throw a bola reasonably well. There was no harm in being prepared.

Stoick stared at the dragon no one had ever seen. It was still unconscious, though they had hit it in the head whenever it stirred to make sure of that. He would order them to untie it and leave it alone an hour before the event. That should be enough time for it to wake up. Right now, he wanted to try and guess how it would fight. How Hiccup would do against it. It was a sleek, powerful dragon. Four stocky and muscular legs, and almost no neck. Undoubtedly very fast. But relatively small and weak scales. The dragon was... Stoick frowned. The dragon was built for offense. Purely for offense, with no apparent defensive capabilities. Its attacks would undoubtedly be quick and brutal.

The parallels to Hiccup's weapon were extremely unnerving. The dragon and Hiccup by all appearances had remarkably similar fighting styles. But Stoick had faith in his son. Rather, he had faith in the Viking his son was turning into, and in the gods who had deemed him worthy of this challenge. Hiccup would fight this dragon, and he would kill it. Stoick had no doubts about that. The way they had gotten this dragon, it had to be fate for Hiccup to begin his life as a real Viking by killing the most dangerous dragon of all.

Hiccup ran into Stoick once more that night, in the main room of their house. Stoick had something behind his back. "Hiccup. I brought you something. To keep you safe, in the ring." He held out a Viking helmet. "You deserve it. Every Viking has a helmet. And this one's special. When you carry it, you carry all of us with you." Stoick didn't tell Hiccup it was made out of the metal of his mother's armor. specifically, her breastplate. Hiccup didn't need the distraction right now.

Hiccup took it, though he didn't want it. He didn't have a choice. He mentioned resting in preparation for the events of the next day, and left the room.

Hiccup spent the remainder of the night in his room in his house. He hadn't done anything in there besides sleep in a few weeks. Dust was everywhere. He had tried to get some sleep, to better be prepared for the morning. But he had failed at that. He would just have to operate on no sleep. Which wasn't anything unusual, for him.

He looked at the things scattered around his room. The parchments, the old sketchbooks, the invention prototypes. All from the time before the bola launcher. All from the Viking wannabe he had been. There were so many inventions designed to kill, to capture, or to maim. They had all failed. He was glad of that now.

He looked around the room once more. This place to him represented what he had truly been before Toothless. Intelligent, but desperate, depressed, and bloodthirsty in the mistaken conviction that killing a dragon was something he wanted to do.

He was ready to leave all this behind because he already had. The only things he valued now were the things he had made after he met Toothless. They were different because the things he built after Toothless were made to rebuild, protect, or help. Even the scythe had been made to protect. He had changed. Or maybe he had just accepted who he really was. Not a Viking. Not one of them. Hiccup still harbored some faint shred of hope that some of them could change. But he wasn't going to risk trying to change them when the lives of the people he truly cared about hung in the balance. Hiccup had more important goals right now.

It was time. Hiccup shouldered his scythe and carried it out instead of leaving it on his back. He was going to war. Just not against the foe people would expect. He walked through the eerily silent village. Everyone was already at the arena. He made his way to the gate, the only thing keeping him out of the arena. Now he put his scythe on his back. Stoick and Gobber were waiting for him there.

Stoick smiled proudly. He patted Hiccup on the back. "Make us all proud."

Gobber spoke up. "Ye'd better get goin' Stoick. Ye've gotta give a speech before Hiccup can start, remember?"

Stoick left the arena gate and made his way to his seat. There he gave a speech.

Hiccup tried not to listen. He caught the general idea. Today Hiccup becomes a Viking, blah blah blah. He didn't need to listen. He was done with that. Now he just needed to get one dragon to listen to him.

Gobber made eye contact with Hiccup as Stoick finished his speech. "Knock 'em dead."

Hiccup faced his mentor. He didn't know what to say. There was nothing he could say right now.

Gobber pushed the gate open, ushered Hiccup into the arena proper, and locked the gate behind him. Hiccup was alone in the arena. He turned slowly, taking in the cheering crowd. Now was time for step one of his plan. Hopefully, this would work. "Everyone, I want your attention." He yelled all of this at the top of his lungs and made eye contact with Stoick. "I want your word as chief no one will enter the arena to interfere. No matter what happens." If Stoick gave his word here, the entire village would be honor-bound to not interfere. It would make an impossible task slightly less impossible.

Stoick was taken aback. His son looked almost angry. But he could understand the sentiment. He himself would rather have died in his initiation test than be saved from failure. This was what would make Hiccup a Viking. The other trainees would prove themselves in raids, but this was Hiccup's only chance, as the best in class. "You have my word!" He was confident Hiccup wouldn't need help.

Hiccup smiled. That had been one of his biggest fears. He had envisioned dozens of Vikings dropping into the arena and stopping him once his plan started. Now they couldn't. A Viking was bound by his word, and the chief had just spoken for the entire village. He moved to the center of the arena. His scythe was still on his back. "I'm ready."

The doors to the Nightmare pen opened. Inside, a Night Fury slightly larger than Toothless lurked. Her eyes were dark green, darker than Toothless's acid green. She had a very distinctive scar on her back. Hiccup realized that the strange pattern was from the lightning strike. She didn't come out of the pen. She simply stared at him. Eyes accepting of her fate. Just like Toothless had. She was just as doomed as Toothless had been. Trapped, injured, no way out.

Hiccup knew he had to get her to come out of the pen. Hopefully she understood as much Norse as Toothless had suggested. He also really hoped he remembered her name and Toothless's correctly. He spoke softly, so he would be unheard by all but the Night Fury. "Svarturkló?"

The Fury's eyes widened, and her pupils dilated for a second before contracting. She certainly recognized that name. Her own. She stepped out of the pen and slowly began circling Hiccup, keeping to the edges of the arena, trying to get downwind. To smell him.

Hiccup understood this. And so he waited. Once she was downwind, she abruptly stopped and stared at him. It wasn't a friendly stare.

Hiccup tried to explain. What had Toothless's name been? "Svarturkappi."

At that, her eyes narrowed. She growled.

Hiccup abruptly realized that he had to explain a bit more. "No, I didn't hurt him. We're friends. Friends." He shook his head. "Not enemies." He sighed in relief as the Fury eyed him with confusion. She understood that, at least. The smell of a Night Fury was pretty convincing evidence.

From above, the Vikings didn't have the angle to see into the pen. They gasped when the Night Fury slowly crept out, keeping its back to the wall. It circled the arena, eyes focused on Hiccup, who still hadn't even drawn his strange weapon.

Stoick didn't know what his son was doing. He was just staring at the dragon as it circled him. He hadn't even drawn his weapon. And was he talking? Stoick couldn't hear it, but he could see Hiccup's lips moving. He didn't like this.

Hiccup decided now was the time. "Svarturkló. Svarturkappi is in danger. The Queen has him." Svarturkló bristled. She seemed to understand that Toothless was in danger, but Hiccup was pretty sure she didn't understand the word 'Queen'. It wasn't something Vikings ever had reason to say. They didn't know she existed.

He tried another way. "Svarturkappi is at the nest. We need to save him. Both of us. Together." Svarturkló definitely understood the word 'nest'. Hiccup wasn't sure just how much of the rest she got.

Time to find out. He took a step towards her. Hands held out. Weapon still on his back.

Svarturkló bristled, wings flaring. She didn't seem to care about his scythe for some reason. Maybe she didn't realize it was a weapon. She had never seen one and had only seen him with it on his back. Vikings wore a lot of stupid things not intended as weapons, like the spikes on Astrid's skirt, so to her it probably looked like a very stupid choice of clothing. She was staring directly at his helmet. The Viking helmet.

Well, this was certainly going to be symbolic. He almost wanted to thank Stoick for giving him such a perfect demonstrative aid.

Hiccup looked up at the crowd. He looked at Svarturkló. Made eye contact. "I am not a Viking. I never have been, and I never will be." He took his helmet and dropped it at his side. The clang as it hit the ground and rolled was deafening in the shocked silence. "I care more about your son than I do this entire village. Let me help you rescue him." He raised his hand toward her and looked away.

Stoick was at a loss for words. If Hiccup had defied him, or explained, maybe his anger could overcome his shock. But this... this confused him far too much for him to form coherent words. When his son raised his hand at the deadliest dragon in existence and looked away, Stoick was sure Hiccup was trying to kill himself. Then, after a moment, the dragon did the unthinkable. The unholy offspring of lightning and death itself made contact with Hiccup, moving its nose to meet his palm, eyes closed. This was madness. That thought broke him out of his trance somewhat. He slammed his hammer against the bars of the iron dome in front of him. He wanted to shock the world back to normal. At that moment, he wanted the dragon to attack his own son, to restore the world to as it should be.

Hiccup heard the hammer impact the bars. He flinched, and the dragon under his hand did the same. He thanked the gods that Night Furies weren't like Nightmares. That would have spooked any other dragon. But Svarturkló only flinched. Maybe it was because they both had other things to worry about. He raised his eyes, and she opened hers. They made eye contact. They could see a reflection of themselves in the other. Determination and trust born of necessity.

He spoke softly. "We need to get out of here. Can you fly us out?" Svarturkló may not have understood the exact message, but she clearly knew enough Norse to catch the meaning. She eyed the arena dome and purred so softly he could barely hear it. It was her way of saying yes.

During this entire thing, the usually rowdy Vikings were silent. First from the spectacle of seeing the unseen dragon. Then from the pure insanity of Hiccup's actions. Finally from shock when the dragon returned the insanity in defiance of reality as they knew it.

The reactions of the teens were as unique as they were. Fishlegs couldn't even think of his stats right then. He was having every number he had ever written proven obsolete. What use were stats about the world when the very concepts they described suddenly meant nothing? Hiccup had recently been a source of confusion, but this was too much. Fishlegs would need the next several weeks to process what was going on.

The twins stared in utter awe. They couldn't comprehend what was going on, but as creators of chaos, they welcomed anything that made the world more interesting. This certainly did that, if nothing else. Anyone looking at their faces would have seen expressions of utter delight.

Snotlout was angry. Hiccup was supposed to get killed by the Night Fury, not... whatever this was. His simple mind could only hold that one line of thinking. Of the teens, his reaction was the closest to the reactions of most of the Vikings.

Astrid. What was Astrid thinking? She was choosing not to think. She genuinely didn't care what Hiccup did now. He was a walking corpse in her eyes. Him and that Night Fury. She still had her bola.

**_Author's Note:_ ** **Well, no one called that. Though, toothlessgolfer's guess was a very interesting one, and one I may at some point write in another story. I took great pleasure in using the 'gathering storm' metaphor all this time, knowing what I was referring to was both a physical storm and a metaphorical one, the physical causing the metaphorical. Fun.**


	20. Chapter 20

_** Hopes, Twisted Realities.  ** _ ** That makes three full-length books going at the same time, again with no excessive strain on my schedule or time. The massive perks of writing everything to completion first. **

** Also, within 24 hours of posting this chapter  ** _** Living Vicariously  ** _ ** will be well past the 10,000 views mark. The first major milestone, and hopefully one of many. **

The arena was at the moment silent, though the silence was one similar to that before an explosion of some sort, as if everyone was collectively inhaling in order to shout all the louder. The entire village was shocked, watching Hiccup break three hundred years of tradition strong as law.

Hiccup didn't care. His priorities did not include making the village happy, and things had come to a head. He had established a tenuous connection with Svarturkló, Toothless's mother. One formed on necessity, but it would do for now.

Svarturkló purred softly, her way of indicating that she understood what Hiccup had requested. She moved up to stand beside Hiccup, to get a clear shot.

Hiccup turned to face her. "Will you let me get on your back, or do you want to carry me with your feet?" He still didn't know how much Svarturkló understood, but he figured he might as well ask.

Svarturkló answered by crouching. Whether she had understood or was simply aware it was his only way out of the arena was unclear. He vaulted onto her back, thankful he had left the bottom sheath on his scythe. Cutting Svarturkló by accident would have been horrible, and she had no saddle. He would have to hang on tight.

There was a roar of unintelligible shouts as Svarturkló blasted the arena bars. The arena had been built to hold in dragons, but Night Fury plasma blasts were far more destructive than most dragons. Her blast left a warped hole straight through the bars, big enough for her to fly through.

Vikings were only now jumping into the arena, their shock and the Chief's promise holding them back until now, this final act of insanity and defiance. The possibility of the Night Fury and Hiccup escaping drove them to it. But it was too late for any of them to stop Svarturkló.

Svarturkló leaped up, her wings creating powerful downdrafts. She shot out of the arena through the hole, Hiccup clinging to her back. None of the Vikings had ranged weapons, so none of them could do anything. That is, except for Astrid.

Astrid knew what she had to do. She was in a perfect position, guided by her gut to this very spot, with the perfect tool for the job. She aimed, spun the oversized bola carefully, and threw.

Hiccup knew something was wrong the split-second he heard the terrible sound of ropes spinning through the air. He didn't even have time to shout before they wrapped around Svarturkló, the weights slamming together right behind Hiccup with a sickening clack, the ropes…

Oh, the irony. The horrible, gut-wrenchingly ironic sight of a bola cruelly fouling and tangling a Night Fury's tailfins, completely twisting them. Was it fate that Night Furies could only be downed by lucky shots and coincidences? Could they only be stopped by attacking the tail?

Robbed of the use of her tailfins, Svarturkló dropped into an awkward plummet. They were falling directly at the village. Hiccup was just thankful, in the seconds before impact, for one fact. They were falling towards the empty village, and not the ocean, where they would both undoubtedly have drowned. The impact was abrupt, and Hiccup blacked out for a second.

When he came to, he realized that he was several yards away from Svarturkló. He had been thrown off of her and had miraculously survived with nothing but bruises. Hopefully, Svarturkló was similarly lucky.

She seemed mostly unharmed, though the bola was wrapped around her lower tail in a complex tangle of knotted rope and heavy iron weights. It was a momentous relief when he saw no blood, no tailfin torn beyond repair. This lucky shot had not been as damaging as his own had.

The villagers would be there any moment. He pulled out his scythe and hurriedly started cutting the ropes, sawing awkwardly with the curved blade, carefully avoiding the living parts wrapped up in the tangled clutches of the bola.

Svarturkló opened her eyes groggily and stared at Hiccup as he quickly began to release her. This was likely about when she figured out the scythe wasn't a part of Hiccup, but a weapon. Her eyes narrowed, before she snorted and nodded subtly. Necessity forced trust.

Hiccup wasn't even half done when someone turned a corner and barreled towards him, at full speed.

Svarturkló jolted to her feet, twisting her body to face Astrid, her gait unsteady and eyes unfocused. She was clearly not quite recovered from the impact. Hiccup awkwardly got between her and Astrid, pointing the unoccupied end of the scythe at Astrid, trying not to cut Svarturkló's tail in the process, the other end of his scythe still tangled in the mess of ropes.

Astrid hefted her ax menacingly, her eyes almost glowing with intensity, a hint of subtle madness.

"Traitor." She said that oddly, a twisted smile coming over her face. It was as if she was only now realizing what to her was a delightful fact. With that, she attacked.

Svarturkló jolted to the side, and Hiccup was pulled by the tangled scythe. What ensued was a twisted game of keep-away, Hiccup, Svarturkló, and Astrid going around roughly in a circle, Astrid trying to get within range, Svarturkló moving away unsteadily, and Hiccup stuck in the middle, pulled along as he tried both to avoid Astrid's wrath and to untangle Svarturkló's tail.

He couldn't help but laugh at the frustrated and almost bewildered expression on Astrid's face as their peculiar dance continued. Even when recovering, Svarturkló was agile enough to keep just out of Astrid's reach, and try as she might the frustrated warrior-in-training was making no progress. Hiccup on the other hand was steadily cutting through the restraining ropes, each jolt as Svarturkló moved out of the way aiding his efforts. But this odd stalemate could not last long.

He quickly cut the last rope and faced Astrid, spinning the scythe in order to keep her at a distance. Svarturkló had landed in something of a back alley between huts, and Hiccup could use his scythe's reach to block the way now that he had it loose. Astrid took a step back when he thrust his now unrestrained scythe out towards her, forcing her back.

Hiccup laughed again, taking in Astrid's angered expression. Svarturkló had regained her balance behind him, and she would be ready to leave any second. "Goodbye, Astrid. I guess you'll never get a chance to kill me. And it's rich calling the guy who's going to kill the Queen a traitor. I'd invite you to the Nest to watch, but it seems only a dragon can find it. You'd all just die anyway." He realized after he spoke that he had just told Astrid how to find the nest if she was smart enough to figure it out. It didn't matter. Either he would end the Queen with Svarturkló and Toothless, or they would die, and the Vikings could try. Not that they would succeed. He didn't care anymore. He called behind him. "Svarturkló, you good?"

Astrid's eyes widened when the Fury barked in confirmation. She shifted her ax, ready to charge, and asked the only question that summed up her confusion with everything Hiccup had done recently. "What are you, Hiccup?"

Hiccup smiled. The answer to that was obvious to him. "Not a Viking." He swiftly sheathed his scythe and leaped onto Svarturkló, who took off.

Astrid was floored by the displaced air from Svarturkló's wings. Other Vikings were arriving at the scene, moments too slow. They could only watch as Hiccup and the Fury flew off. Headed straight for the Nest. To kill the 'Queen', whatever that meant. But there was something else Hiccup had said. Something important. He had said, 'It seems like only a dragon could find it.' Astrid thought he might have just told her how to find the nest. She turned to face a furious Stoick, who had just arrived.

"Where are they?!" Stoick was beside himself in anger.

"Sir, they got away. But it doesn't matter. He told me how to find the Nest." Astrid figured she should drop that bit of news before Stoick exploded.

He stopped and stared at her. "He did?"

She nodded. "Apparently, only a dragon can find it. Did we keep the Nightmare we caught before the Night Fury was struck down?"

Stoick slowly smiled. "Aye, we did." He turned to face the other Vikings. "We set out for Helheim's gate at once! Someone bring the Nightmare to the docks!"

Astrid smiled. That was more like it. She would get another chance at the Night Fury, and at Hiccup. At whatever else lived in the Nest. She was liking her new goal more and more. Kill Night Furies. It would prove to the rest of Berk that she was the best dragon-killer. Starting with this one.

Hiccup and Svarturkló flew. Svarturkló began to flag, wingbeats unsteady by the time Berk was a smudge on the horizon behind them. She angled towards a sea stack, landing roughly on top of it.

Hiccup got off of her back and wished he had Toothless's saddle. He kept water in a canister in one of the pouches, and Svarturkló could probably use some right now. He sat down by her head, keeping in her line of sight. "Rest for a while. We need you at full strength when we get there. The Queen won't let Svarturkappi go without a fight." Hiccup just barely remembered to use the name she would recognize.

Svarturkló moaned and rolled onto her side.

Hiccup could see that her wing-muscles were cramping right at the base of where her wing met her body. The shoulder of the wing. He had seen this happen to Toothless once, after a long flight. He had been able to help then by massaging the shoulder muscles. Svarturkló could probably use the same treatment, but did she trust him enough to let him mess with her wings?

Svarturkló tried to flap the wing that was pointed towards the sky, and let out a pained grunt. She looked Hiccup in the eye.

Hiccup moved closer, slowly. "I can help. Trust me." He put his hands on her nose. When she didn't react, he slowly slid them up along her head, and down her neck, towards the shoulder muscles. She moaned again, softer this time. He was keeping in contact with her so that she knew what he was doing when she couldn't see him. He made it to the shoulder joint and began pushing out the cramps.

Svarturkló made a noise of surprise when the cramps started to fade. She turned to look at Hiccup when he took his hands away, finished with that wing. They made eye contact again, and after a long moment she slowly rolled over to give him access to her other wing.

Hiccup smiled at the trust they were establishing as he helped her. He had been a bit worried that she would just leave him here on this sea stack in the middle of nowhere and try to rescue Toothless herself. Now he wasn't worried about that. If nothing else, she was in his debt now, so she wouldn't leave him here. He finished with the other wing and Svarturkló rolled over onto her stomach. She closed her eyes and purred in thanks.

"You're welcome." Hiccup took in her worn appearance. She had flown from the nest to Berk, got hit by lightning, probably knocked out a couple times by Vikings, taken down by bola, and then flown some more. She needed to rest, badly. He was pretty sure she wouldn't make it to the nest in this condition, never mind anything after that. But she was preparing to get up. "Svarturkló. You need to sleep. Rest. We can go after that."

Svarturkló continued to struggle to her feet. She shook her head, clearly understanding and ignoring Hiccup.

Hiccup decided he needed to take more drastic action. He stood with her, and put his hands to either side of her jaw, holding her head to look into her eyes. "I'll make you sleep if you won't rest."

She snorted, intentions clearly unwavering.

"Don't say I didn't warn you." He scratched the pressure point, and she collapsed into sleep. Right on top of him. Again. He had forgotten about that part. She had pinned both of his legs under her head when she fell. "I should have thought that through."

Hiccup considered his position. "Oh well, I could use some rest too." He wasn't worried about Svarturkló waking up and trying to leave before she was rested. He was betting that because the pressure point naturally puts dragons to sleep, she would stay asleep until she was rested. And she wouldn't leave without him. He relaxed and laid back. "Not like I can go anywhere anyway right now."

Svarturkló woke up soon after the human fell back asleep, though she didn't know it. She didn't know at all what to think of this strange human. He smelled like her son, knew both of their names, and wanted to help rescue her son from the nest. He had said he wasn't a Viking and threw away the horns that marked him as one, had defended her when they had been shot down, and had helped her with her cramped wings before putting her to sleep when she wanted to keep going without rest, somewhat like a parent would with a hatchling. She didn't like that last part, but it did show he cared. Also, he was relaxed enough to fall asleep pinned under a dragon's head.

She knew he had some connection to her son. She didn't know what it was, or how her son was still alive, but that could wait. Right now, she needed to...

She looked at the sleeping human.

Sleep. She needed to sleep. The short time she'd had wasn't nearly enough. When she was rested they would go to the nest. And it would be a they. Her son would explain to her exactly what was going on once they had rescued him, and she would keep the human safe until she could hear the truth. If it turned out he was somehow deceiving her, she would tear him limb from limb. But she didn't want to have to do that. He seemed entirely unlike any other human she had encountered.

She set her head back down, and then realized she would be pinning him under her again. Well, if he wanted her to rest, she would force him to as well. Fair was fair. She fell back asleep.

Svarturkló was the first to really wake up. She felt the horrible pangs of hunger in her stomach and realized that she hadn't eaten in a few days. She carefully got up and flexed her wings. They barely felt sore. She would have to thank the human for that. Bringing him a fish would do nicely.

She walked off of the sea stack and flew a fair distance away to where she could see a shoal of fish. She shot a fireball into the water and waited. Once the dead fish had floated to the surface, she ate her fill and grabbed as many as she could carry with her claws. Then she returned to the sea stack. The human was awake and watching her. He didn't look scared that she would leave him. He seemed to trust her. She dropped a fish in front of him and thanked him despite knowing he couldn't hear her.

That made her wonder, though. dragons and humans couldn't communicate. So how had he known her name, or her son's name? It wasn't something that could just be guessed. Her son must have told him. But how?

Hiccup was inwardly disgusted by the prospect of raw fish. But he was pretty sure that Svarturkló wouldn't understand that he ate fish cooked. Toothless hadn't understood for a while, and Hiccup could talk to him. Besides, he needed food. He was pretty sure raw fish wouldn't kill him. So he ate as much as he could stomach. That turned out to be about half of it, but that was enough. His stomach no longer felt like it would implode.

Now he just wanted to throw up. Great.

He tried to focus on anything else. "How are you? Not mad that I put you to sleep, I hope."

Svarturkló growled, then purred.

"I guess you're telling me you didn't like that... but you understand why I did it? I'm okay with that. I won't do it again unless I have to."

Svarturkló growled again.

Hiccup raised his arms in surrender. "Okay, I won't do it at all. Just try not to fly yourself to exhaustion."

Svarturkló laughed, a guttural sound Hiccup could only recognize as laughter from Toothless. It reminded him of why they were there, and how he had gotten on top of a sea stack far from Berk, with his best friend's mom. His face fell. "Well, I guess that's it for Berk. Even if I could get them to understand, there are too many people who want me dead there." He straightened and addressed Svarturkló, who was staring at him empathetically. "But I don't regret any of it. I wasn't going to let them kill any dragon, especially you. Your son and I were going to try and free you, right before the lightning hit you."

Hiccup felt like he needed to explain, even if she didn't understand. "We were gonna taunt the Queen away, and get her to chase us over a lake. Then I was going to drop a rock on your head, which would knock you out, getting the Queen out of your head. You would have fallen into the lake instead of crashing, and we would have fished you out. All would end happily ever after. It was a good plan." He laughed. "But this works too."

Svarturkló crouched, having finished her meal, beckoning for Hiccup to get on.

Hiccup was about to when he noticed her scar. The lightning had left a strange, complex pattern on her back. "Wait, does this hurt?"

Svarturkló shrugged. It did, but she didn't care, and it was the only way to carry the human safely. She barked at him.

Hiccup scrambled on, trying not to put weight on the scar, even though that was almost impossible. It spanned most of her back. "If you say so. Now, let's go save Toothless. I mean Svarturkappi." He guessed he would have to get used to using that name, at least for now. It wasn't a bad name. Just different. He wouldn't care if it meant he would see Toothless again.

Svarturkló took off. She winged her way towards the nest, flying with as much gliding as possible to conserve energy. She had no idea what they would find there. Hopefully, the Queen would be asleep, as she so often was. Svarturkló noticed that the human was very good at staying on her back. He didn't have much to hold on to, but he remained secure without impeding her movement. He had clearly flown before, given his lack of reaction to the novelty of flight. With her son? She still didn't understand that. She would get answers from Svarturkappi. Once they found him.

Hiccup knew when they had passed Helheim's gate. That wall of fog was pretty distinctive. It was chilly, and damp inside the ever-present fog bank.

Svarturkló flew quietly, slowly moving past and between sea stacks that appeared out of the fog. She was headed in a single direction. The island of the Nest.

Hiccup saw it as they flew out of the fog, and into the airspace above the Nest. It was a desolate island, devoid of anything green or living, save for dragons. The Nest island was dominated by a massive mountain in the center. No, Hiccup realized as they drew closer, a volcano, probably dormant. He figured that would be where the Queen was.

An aggravated screech split the air. Hiccup and Svarturkló both recognized it at once. It came from Toothless. Or, as they flew around the island and saw what was going on, rather from the Queen through Toothless.

Hiccup could see Toothless, down on the shore. His friend had several nasty scratches on his face and legs, some of which were still bleeding. His eyes were slitted, and it was obvious what was going on. The Queen was using Toothless's body and trying to fly. As he and Svarturkló watched, Toothless took off, faltered, and fell back to the ground, in what appeared to be the latest in a long line of failures, judging by the skidmarks in the rocky beach. The Queen didn't seem to understand that Toothless was incapable of solo flight. It was ticking her off.

The Queen, through Toothless, roared again in frustration.

Svarturkló was horrified at the sight of her son unable to fly, and being injured by the Queen in the process. She quickly saw the saddle, and prosthetic. She was a smart dragon, and the fact that the human had experienced flight before implied to her that her son was able to fly somehow, but the Queen didn't seem to know that. She angled down to the beach, landing in front of her enthralled offspring. The human climbed off of her back and turned to her. She didn't catch everything he said, but he seemed to want her to go to the volcano, and... Yes, she understood. She left the human there, trusting he could carry out his part of the plan.

Hiccup stood alone, facing a homicidally angry Queen in the body of his best friend. He took his scythe off of his back and looked at it. He looked at the Queen, who was staring at him. "This won't help me. I could never make myself hurt him anyway." He threw the scythe away from them. It landed, an obvious marker embedded halfway in the rocks and sand that made up the dark beach.

He turned back to the Queen, to Toothless. He had to carry out his part of the plan. Keep the Queen's attention on him. "Toothless, buddy, I know you're in there. I know you can only watch, that this is all the Queen. I don't blame you for anything she's done or will do using you. You shouldn't either."

Hiccup knew that there was every possibility the Queen would kill him using Toothless. He wanted his friend to know it wasn't his fault. He didn't plan to die, but his plans rarely worked anyway. Besides, the Queen seemed interested in what he had to say. She probably understood him completely, if the amount of time she had spent around humans through proxies was any indication. He was stalling for time. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see that Svarturkló had entered the volcano. Just a few more seconds.

The Queen decided to stop playing nice. She jumped at Hiccup, plasma blast charging as she did.

Hiccup had been expecting this and rolled to the side. The pounce signalled by a subtle crouch was easy to avoid. Its follow-up of an entirely lethal swipe of extended claws less so. Hiccup stumbled back, knowing he was going to lose this deadly game of tag. No matter how well he knew Toothless, knew a Night Fury's capabilities and tactics, he simply didn't have the reflexes to match them.

His hands began to bleed from the jagged rocks as he scrambled to his feet, a mouth full of sharp teeth slamming shut in the air where his chest had been a moment ago. The Queen leered at him, pausing for a moment to look him in the eye. Probably searching for fear, desperation.

Hiccup smirked, unable to resist. "Sloppy. Toothless would have me pinned by now. Must be the whole 'controlling someone else' thing slowing you down."

The Queen whipped around and slammed him to the ground with her front paws before he could react, snarling angrily. Hiccup could hear the plasma charging in Toothless's throat, and just like that he was face to face with a Fury entirely capable of ending him in an instant, helpless. It gave him deja-vu, thinking back to when he had first met Toothless, but there would be no mercy this time. Unless he had bought enough time.

There was an explosion from inside the volcano, and Toothless paused. Then, a second explosion, and Toothless's pupils abruptly returned to their normal shapes akin to rounded squares. He immediately looked up and fired, releasing the plasma blast that had been about to incinerate Hiccup. It detonated in the air. He looked back down, and licked Hiccup, straight across his entire chest and face.

Hiccup laughed. "Happy to see you too."

Toothless suddenly realized he was still on top of Hiccup and jumped away with an apologetic yelp.

"Bud, we still have things to do. You with me?" He held out his hand.

Toothless didn't hesitate to make contact and restore the link both of them felt incomplete without. 'Brother, you are amazing.'

Hiccup smiled. "You weren't too bad yourself, Bud. That was a really good pin. Excellent form and-" Toothless frantically licked Hiccup's face. "MMMPH!"

Pulling back and wiping his face off, Hiccup quickly inspected the saddle and prosthetic, making sure they still worked. "Let's get up there."

Toothless wasted no time, taking off as soon as Hiccup was on his back. He had a few questions as the flew towards the volcano, where hordes of dragons could be seen flying in all directions, away from the Nest as fast as their wings could carry them, disappearing out into the fog. 'How did you do this? You've released everyone from her control entirely!'

Hiccup laughed. 'I remembered what you told me. You said she might have to release everyone if she had to immediately defend herself. So, your mom flew in there and started blasting her. She must have pulled entirely back to herself in shock. Now, she has no control over anyone unless she looks them in the eyes again."

Toothless continued to the logical conclusion. 'And because there are two Night Furies, as long as we are both attacking, she can't leave her body to take over either of us anyway, because the other would destroy her undefended body!' This was way better than the 'blindfold and hope' plan that was all they had been able to come up with. Not that that was a bad plan, but this was better.

Svarturkló flew out of the mountain, passing her son and the human as she fled. 'She's coming out! Get ready to fight!'

She circled around as the mountain exploded, and fell into formation with her son leading the way back at the Queen. Now that she had a moment to investigate, she took up a position above and to the right of Svarturkappi and took a good hard look at the tailfin. It was fake, but functioned just like the real one would, reacting normally to every shift in the wind. She looked at the human on his back, who was flicking his head left and right to look out for any danger, but otherwise unmoving. Did this human... could he really... create a new tailfin just like that?

That would have to be yet another question for later.

Hiccup gulped. Toothless had implied that the Queen was massive in her own body, but this was ridiculous. She was so big she had to break the old volcano open to get out. This body had six eyes, all open in rage, and her head was big enough to hypothetically use a Viking longboat as a chew toy. She roared in rage, a horrifyingly loud sound. Both Furies faltered in midair as the sound struck them. Hiccup immediately folded Toothless's ears back, hopefully blocking it out somewhat. The Queen stopped roaring and inhaled. That wasn't good. Both Furies dived, right before the Queen let loose with a massive torrent of fire, sweeping her head in an attempt to catch them in it.

Toothless dropped, Svarturkló copying him, as they barely outran the flames. Luckily, the Queen didn't seem able to keep the torrent of fire up for long and stopped before the Furies splattered against the rocks, letting up just in time for them to pull out of their dives.

"Okay, this is gonna be hard." Hiccup really needed a plan. He and Toothless had never even discussed this part. That seemed like a bit of an oversight, in retrospect.

The Furies flew away from the Queen, buying themselves a few seconds to regroup.

Hiccup noticed something on the horizon. "Oh. Uhh... Toothless? I may have accidentally told Astrid how to get here. I didn't think she'd figure it out, but..."

Toothless saw it too. 'Cool. At least someone will get to watch us die horribly. Most of them will probably enjoy that. Before, you know, the Queen destroys them all.' His voice was light. He was still giddy due to his renewed freedom and impending reunion with his mother, once they had a moment of peace. Speaking of which...

Svarturkló snapped at Toothless. 'Concentrate! We have more pressing matters to attend to right now.'

Toothless grumbled. 'Great to see you too.'

Hiccup laughed. Toothless was relaying everything they both said, so Hiccup understood. He wasn't sure if Toothless realized he was doing it or not, but he wasn't about to bring it up. "Now. We need a plan to kill this thing. Unless we can reason with her?"

Toothless recoiled and slapped Hiccup with his ear.

"Yeah, didn't really think that was an option. Oh, and Toothless, if we need it, my scythe is on the beach." Hiccup pointed at his distant weapon.

Toothless chuffed. He and Svarturkló were turning, slowly returning to the Queen, who was distracted by the spectacle of the Viking fleet approaching.''We need a way to kill her.' He looked at the Queen. Massive, huge firepower, six eyes... 'I have no idea how to do that.'

Hiccup was looking at something else. "I might." He explained his idea to Toothless, who passed it on to Svarturkló.

'We can try that. It might work, and we're only risking the human.' Svarturkló was still unaware Toothless was passing everything she said on to Hiccup reflexively.

'Mom! Hiccup isn't expendable!' Toothless was very annoyed. 'We need to talk later.'

Svarturkló looked pointedly at Toothless's tailfin. 'Yes, we do.'

Toothless wilted. 'So, everyone ready?'

Svarturkló responded. 'Yes.' She flew ahead with a burst of speed.

Hiccup crouched into the saddle. "Let's go."

Toothless flew into action.

Astrid couldn't believe her eyes. There were two Night Furies. And they were fighting the biggest dragon she had ever seen. This must be the Queen. Not that she cared. She only had eyes for the Night Furies. She would wait and see how all this played out, ideally killing a Night Fury if the opportunity presented itself. She didn't care what anyone said, that was what she was going to do. Looking around, she scowled. The Viking fleet was horribly underpowered compared to the massive dragon. They were setting up their catapults, but it wouldn't be enough to even scratch the thing. But they were Vikings, so they would try anyway. That was the Viking way.

Fishlegs was nearby, on another ship, pale and stammering absently about redefining every stat in the book. He wasn't entirely sure why he was here. He was just a spectator. Honestly, they all were. The only players in this battle were the large dragon, the two Furies, and... was that Hiccup? Fishlegs guessed if Hiccup was up there, he was a player too. Three against one, but the one was a horribly massive dragon. He was betting on the Furies, but not because the numbers were in their favor. He was betting on the Furies because they had Hiccup. And if ever there was a case of brain against brawn, this was it. Also, if the massive dragon won, they were all dead. So he really was hoping Hiccup pulled something from up his sleeve.

Stoick stared at the spectacle in front of him. He was still trying to pull together some sort of understanding from the confusing mess the world had become. Ideally, in a way that meant Hiccup hadn't betrayed the Viking way. He thought hard, trying to find an interpretation of reality that his narrow-minded perception could accept.

Gobber simply stared. He still felt betrayed by the pure strangeness Hiccup had been showing, and now he felt guilty. He had seen Hiccup's changing personality. Had that led to this? He still didn't understand what Hiccup was doing. He knew there was more to the story. He just hoped they all lived long enough to hear it.

The Vikings were reduced to watching. There was nothing they could do. Helplessness wasn't a Viking emotion, but they all felt just a bit of it.

**_ Author's Note:  _ ** ** It's nice to see that I got quite a few of you with last chapter's twists. Also, there have been several interesting guest comments. I'm not entirely sure if both of these came from the same guest, but as they deal with the same topic, I'll assume so. **

** Guest: " _"I swear, I'm not against Astrid as a character . . ." It's never good to swear especially given how you've written Astrid in this and most of your other stories as well bely this assertion. If you don't like or respect a character, and it's pretty clear/obivious that this is the case with Astrid, then why not just own it."_ **

** As an update to that, I have several stories that are good to Astrid in the works, or at worst neutral, just so you know. _Imperfect Perception_ and _I Saw Myself_ ** **come to mind. I truly do like Astrid as a character. Key words there, as a character. In relation to how the story's underlying mechanics work, it's a bit less clear. She is, and I'm speaking entirely of the technical side of writing, an anchor. She ties Hiccup to Berk, to responsibility. It's a quite restrictive limit on what I can feasibly do with his character without making him inexplicably OOC. She also gives him a renewed attachment to the villagers through that loyalty, which I often don't want for the same reason. As a result, when I come up with the barest fragment of a new plot, she often slips my mind until later. Stoick suffers from the same issue, though less severely, as does Toothless's missing tailfin, oddly enough. Valka is a whole other complication that falls along similar lines. (Don't get me started on the mess of a character Dreamworks gave us with Valka. I like her, but she's got some serious internal contradictions.)**

** The exception to that was this story, because I deliberately wanted to portray Astrid as a villain, and the only feasible way to explain why Hiccup wouldn't change her mind is insanity. It's actually a compliment to her character, that I couldn't see myself portraying her as cold or uncaring naturally, incapable or unwilling to change. I had to resort to insanity to even make it possible. **

** Guest: " _"The only core part of HTTYD is the interactions between Hiccup and Toothless." Au contraire: Without Astrid's role in HTTYD1, the movie would have ended tragically. Had Astrid not successfully prodded Hiccup after the ships sailed to attack the nest, Hiccup would still have been wallowing in self-pity while Stoick, Gobber, most if not all of the village warriors, and Toothless were, in all likelihood, slaughtered by the Red Queen. Also, it was Astrid, not Hiccup, who deduced that the Queen was controlling the other dragons."_ **

** Yes, she played an important part… but you forget, she is also the catalyst for everything you list here. If she was not present, and I believe this was well-portrayed in the beginning of _Becoming Luthrasir_ , among other stories, Hiccup and Toothless would have left. Thus avoiding all that followed. **

** That, however, is not what I meant. Core, in this case, is not a reference to the plot of canon. Core is a theme, something that differentiates this from, say, _Eragon_ , which has a moderately similar setting and relationship between characters, but a very different core theme. Plot and setting are clearly important, but the core of this story is that two people from different worlds connect despite everything (to oversimplify dramatically). Also something about the whole being greater than the sum of its parts, in reference to Hiccup and Toothless, not Astrid. As an example, I think we'd all agree _I Hear Him Scream_ ** **is an example of an excellent HTTYD fanfiction. I'd personally rate it as one of the best of all time, perhaps the best entirely, but that is irrelevant to the argument. In case you haven't read it, (and I really suggest you do if that is the case), while the sequel begins developing some hint of Hiccstrid, the first book completely avoids romance in its entirety, and paints Astrid (along with pretty much every other character) as a flawed person who makes bad decisions, and hurts Hiccup quite severely in the process, somewhat intentionally. But it has the same core as HTTYD, therefore proving Astrid, while an important part of the original story, not a core part. There are plenty of other examples that do the same.**

** I do quite enjoy such friendly debates, so I apologize if this is long and unwieldy. To summarize, while I like Astrid as a character, in the mechanics of plot she is something of a tether to Canon, and that doesn't play well with how I write. She's often a casualty of my trying to put out things that are truly unique. **

** If you'd like to continue this discussion, anonymous Guest, (and I'm totally up for that) I request you go to the momentary trouble of creating an account and using the IM function. This way I can reply without clogging up my author's notes, and we can have a real discussion. Also, it would prevent hard to follow and semi-irrelevant future reviews, which would occur if we continued this in this fashion. Regardless, this is the only time I'll be discussing this here in the Author's Notes. **

** To my other readers, rest assured, I dislike long Author's Notes, so this will be the exception instead of the rule. ** **Things are really getting started now** , **story-wise, and this wild ride is far from over.**


	21. Chapter 21

A fleet of incoming Viking ships, close to the shore but holding back in spite of their battle lust, preparing catapults but not daring to land. No one wanted to die to the demon on the shores of the nest, a monster so big she had cracked the mountain open just to exit it. Six eyes, lumpy, massive. The dragons of the nest had fled like their enslaver, the Queen, was personally on their heels, and were long gone.

All save two. A black blur held the Queen's attention, swooping and curving around that many-eyed head, avoiding snapping teeth and large bursts of fire with ease. Unobserved by the Queen, another black blur landed on the shore, near a glint of metal.

Toothless thought that this was a good plan, but he still didn't like it. 'Is this part necessary?'

Hiccup was currently picking up his scythe. Svarturkló was keeping the Queen occupied for the moment, though she wouldn't last long on her own. "Yes. I don't like it either, but we need to make her mad, get her to stop thinking before she attacks." He hefted the scythe as he and Toothless shot back towards the Queen. "This'll do that perfectly."

Hiccup didn't like this part of the plan much either. Aside from the dangers involved, it almost felt cruel. But then he remembered what the Queen had done to Toothless and Svarturkló, to all of the dragons, to three hundred years of Viking villages. He wouldn't enjoy it, but she definitely deserved it.

Toothless flew straight at the Queen's back. She was still distracted, so he was able to swoop low, flying just feet from her back as he followed her spine up to her head. This was it. He landed softly on the Queen's armored neck.

There was no immediate response. Svarturkló was doing a great job of keeping the Queen's attention, swooping in loops around her.

Hiccup wanted to celebrate. He had guessed by looking at her that with scales so large and and heavy, the queen wouldn't notice the slight weight of the rider and dragon who would be flies to her. They moved into position, Toothless creeping along the large scales, taking care not to step in the large cracks running between the armored plating, where the more sensitive skin was visible. Hiccup got off of Toothless's back and stood on the ridge. They were on top of the Queen's head, and couldn't speak anymore, for fear she would hear. Hiccup steeled himself. He raised his scythe.

He couldn't do it. Not in cold blood. Toothless's face was frozen in a snarl, directed at the monster of a dragon below them, encouraging Hiccup to act. But he couldn't.

At that moment, the Queen changed tactics and began inhaling powerfully. So powerfully, in fact, that Svarturkló was being sucked in. She had been flying too close to avoid this change in tactics and would be in the Queen's mouth in seconds.

'Hiccup!' Toothless was panicking and spoke despite the likelihood of being noticed. He knew he hadn't liked this part of the plan, and now it was going wrong!

Hiccup heard Toothless and saw the situation. It gave him the motivation he needed. He broke his frozen stance with the scythe raised to strike and swung it down through the air in a half-circle, impacting a few feet below the ridge he was standing on, looking almost like a miner, swinging an oversized pickaxe to mine something below him. He felt sick. No matter who he was doing this to, it felt cruel.

From the fleet, Gobber and Stoick watched in frustration, waiting for the catapults to reload, despite the utter uselessness of the first volley. As they saw what Hiccup intended, the frustration grew.

"We've gotta get out there. I don't like sittin' around and watchin'!" Gobber was unsure exactly what was going on, but he saw a monstrosity that needed to be destroyed, and he didn't particularly care how such a feat was to be accomplished. He just wanted to be involved.

Stoick, on the other hand, was furious as well as confused. Hiccup was fighting the fight he had aspired to for decades like any Viking would when given the chance. Taking stupid risks, like what Hiccup was doing at the moment. Going for the eyes with his weapon, standing on the head of his enemy. But...

He was doing it with the help of two demons. Stoick couldn't reconcile that with anything he knew. Save for one old incident. His mind spun, trying to connect those dots. After a moment, he slowly began grinning. He thought he understood now. Drago had been a menace. But his own son would be an asset, controlling dragons, however, it was done. If that was what was going on.

The Queen abruptly stopped inhaling, choking out a frenzied roar of pain. The scythe's spike had been driven straight into one of her eyes.

Hiccup wanted to throw up. He quickly pulled the scythe back and didn't look at the blade as he put it back in its holster.

The Queen shook her head violently, and Toothless grabbed Hiccup with his mouth as he held on with his claws. Hiccup climbed back over Toothless to the saddle, and Toothless launched himself off of her head at the apex of one of her swings. A brief moment occurred in which Hiccup was clearly visible to the Queen's remaining eyes, and he knew it.

"Or maybe you're just slow in general!" Hiccup yelled, taunting her. Toothless flipped out of the way of an enraged snap, teeth the size of stalactites slamming together behind him.

Toothless and Svarturkló met up in the air a short distance out of the Queen's reach and waited to see how she would respond. That had been the first part. Get her angry. Hopefully, it had been enough.

Hiccup didn't want to look, but the fight wasn't over. He saw the Queen bellowing in pain, one of her eyes held tightly shut. She had five more, so it wasn't a debilitating injury. That hadn't been the point. She saw the Furies hovering just above her fire's reach from the ground. Her old, leathery wings unfolded for the first time in what might have been centuries. They were massive, even for a dragon that size. She ponderously lifted into the air, apparently intent on destroying them in the sky. That had been the point. Get her in the air.

"Well," Hiccup remarked as they fled, "she can fly!" The wind was cold, rushing past his face as Toothless fled the enraged Queen, the two Furies staying just ahead of her massive bulk.

Toothless was starting to feel the strain of staying ahead of the deceptively quick Queen. 'Too well!' Hiccup's taunts were proving quite inaccurate.

Hiccup pointed at the clouds that were gathered above them. "Time to disappear, then!" He accessed Toothless's senses completely. He would need the enhanced vision to see anything in there. Hopefully the Queen wouldn't be able to see them.

Toothless and Svarturkló flew into the clouds, the Queen right behind them. They immediately swerved in opposite directions and put some distance between themselves and the now confused Queen. Toothless could see, and by extension, so could Hiccup. The Queen, however, apparently could not. She twisted around, trying to locate them.

An eerie screech echoed, and a blue plasma blast impacted one ponderously massive wing, followed by a deafening roar of anger from the Queen.

Svarturkló swerved, her voice panicked as she passed Toothless. 'That barely did anything!'

She was right. The smoke of the explosion had cleared to reveal a small hole, slowly ripping and expanding under the pressure of holding the Queen up. Too small, a dot on the surface of those massive wings.

'This is going to take a lot of shots.' Toothless realized, watching the tear. 'Maybe too many.'

"Then we change the plan." Hiccup said, sounding more confident than he felt. He was whispering, the world silent save for the massive wingbeats. "Wings are too big, scales too thick. So, we shoot her eyes-"

'Finishing what your scythe started.' Toothless caught on. 'What then? She isn't using her sight to try and find us in this fog anyway.'

Svarturkló passed them again. 'Then I take over.'

"What does that mean?" Hiccup asked quietly as they curved back around to angle towards the Queen's left side.

'I don't know, but at least she has some sort of plan.' Toothless responded, before shooting a smaller plasma blast at one of the Queen's six eyes, hitting in a nauseating explosion of fire and blood, along with other unidentifiable bits. The scythe had been bad, but this was a thousand times worse. The Queen's roar of shock and pain rattled the very air around them, the fog moving in waves outwards before flowing back, almost moving as water from the sheer force of her outburst.

One eye blinded by a metal spike, another by fire. The fight continued, both Furies dodging frenzied and random blasts of fire, pillars of heat that rammed through the fog, sometimes far too close for comfort. The Queen's eyes were destroyed, one by one, each successful blow enraging and injuring her further. Her head became something grotesque to look upon, a bleeding mass with holes on both sides, dripping blood and other unidentifiable liquids.

Hiccup forced himself to watch, to make sure nothing the Queen did would catch either Fury by surprise, not if he could give warning. It was all he could do, no matter that his stomach heaved at the sight of the Queen's ruined face. Not that it was that appealing to begin with.

Once the last eye had been hit, Svarturkló broke the silence, Toothless hearing her words even as he gasped in horror, seeing his mother fly directly in front of the Queen.

'You will never take another as your thrall again!' Svarturkló yelled angrily. 'Not without eyes!'

It was true, he realized. The Queen apparently needed eye contact to establish control, if not to use it once it had been rooted in a dragon. They had broken all of her roots, and then taken her eyes from her, permanently. She would never enslave another dragon again.

The Queen snarled wordlessly, lunging through the air towards Svarturkló, who dodged, having expected the attack. Svarturkló dropped, screeching all the way, drawing the Queen after her.

Toothless and Hiccup followed the two out of the fog, down towards the island. It dawned on them, both figuring out at about the same time what Svarturkló was doing.

The Night Fury and the Queen sped directly towards the shattered volcano, towards the jagged spikes and rubble the Queen had smashed out of the side of the mountain while making her exit. Their path was just level enough that the blind Queen didn't sense a plummet and pull out.

The Queen was so massive, so heavy. It would take unimaginable force to do true damage to her, to break bone or puncture scale and muscle.

Svarturkló was using the Queen's size against her. The only thing capable of killing the Queen, of breaking her… was her own weight and speed, her now unstoppable momentum.

Svarturkló pulled up, abruptly ceasing the screech that allowed the Queen to follow, to know where she was, and banked, flying away from the imminent impact.

Hiccup, filled with foreboding, urged Toothless towards her, even as all three of them watched the Queen's final moment.

She likely never knew what had happened. Her head hit first, smashing into the stone like a hammer into a log, denting but not breaking. A resounding snap rang through the air, followed by the odd sight of that massive body stopping dead, repulsed by the strength of earth and stone, neck snapped by the force of the impact.

That was not the end, however. The rest of the Queen's body slammed into the ground, and something happened. It was likely that a sharp fragment of rubble was in the right place to pierce between the Queen's scales, or it might have been that her underside was simply less thick and tough. Either way, something ruptured her, something set off a chain reaction.

The Queen did not simply die. She _exploded_ , her internal gas lighting and finding nowhere to go, force momentarily contained by her body made devastating, a fireball turned by circumstance into a bomb. A shockwave of sound and force radiated outwards, followed by a quickly dissipating wave of flame.

Both Furies faltered, but Svarturkló was closer to the body, and did not recover. She dropped into a freefall.

Toothless dove at her, moving through fast enough to call up that signature whistling shriek through the force of the air moving around him. Fast enough to get to Svarturkló before she hit the unforgiving stone ground and sharp rubble.

The impact slammed Hiccup in the saddle, and made Toothless grunt in pain. They continued to descend, only a slight angle and curve to their descent categorizing it as any more controlled than Svarturkló's fall had been.

"Did you get her?!" Hiccup called out, unable to see clearly enough to tell.

Toothless looked back, grinning a gummy smile despite the situation. That was the last thing Hiccup saw before they hit the ground, just outside of the rubble that would have killed them upon impact.

When Hiccup opened his eyes, all he could see was black scales. He heard growling… and voices. Suspiciously Viking voices. Great. Just great. He shifted, and the scales around him tightened protectively. He could feel bruises everywhere, but that was it.

Well, it for what he could feel. It became apparent that his lower foot was numb, as if it wasn't there.

He looked down, breathing out when he saw that his foot was merely numb, likely from the odd way he was lying on the ground, cutting off the blood flow. It was a miracle the crash hadn't been worse.

"Hey. I'm fine, let me out so I can deal with them." He wasn't at all certain how he'd 'deal' with several shiploads of Vikings, but the only human representative of his group would probably have the best chance of keeping them alive. The scales around him withdrew, and he stood up, quickly taking stock of the situation.

The Vikings from the boat were spreading out across the island. Most of them were heading towards what was left of the Queen, in some sort of twisted fascination. A crowd of about twenty surrounded Hiccup, Toothless and Svarturkló, almost completely encircling them but keeping a distance from the Night Fury nesting over his rider and the other hopping around them and roaring at anyone who got too close. Svarturkló was a few feet away, staring directly at Stoick. Gobber was with Stoick.

Hiccup also noticed Astrid, who was getting a little bit closer to Toothless every time the dragon turned his head to watch another section of the crowd around them. The intent in her eyes was evident, along with that subtle hint of madness he was able to see recently. Stoick didn't seem aware of her.

Hiccup supposed he must make quite a sight right now. He had no idea where his scythe was. Feeling at his back, it was apparent that the holster had ripped off, probably during the immense wind pressure of the last dive. He guessed that his scythe was probably gone. Oh well. He could make a new one.

Stoick cleared his throat. And then burst out laughing.

Toothless and Svarturkló both glanced at him, before returning to their vigils. Astrid had crept closer.

Stoick finally stopped laughing. "So son, let me see if I've put this together correctly." He seemed entirely sure of what he was saying as he outlined his ridiculously twisted theory on what was going on. "At some point, you discovered how to break and train dragons, like horses. You somehow discovered what lived here. When we caught the Fury, it was actually Thor giving you a dragon powerful enough for you to kill this... thing. You're the greatest Viking Berk has ever seen! Other lands break horses for travel, or train falcons to hunt. You figured out how to subdue dragons!" He seemed almost desperate for this to be the case, and there was a dark undertone to what he was saying. The hidden message seemed to be, "Last chance. Take this twisted version of events, make it the truth, and we can all pretend this isn't what it clearly looks like."

Hiccup heard both parts, stated and implied. He considered Astrid behind him. The fact that she was fixated on killing dragons, and probably Night Furies in particular now. Along with him. He considered Snotlout and Spitelout, who were willing to kill him to make Snotlout the heir. He considered Stoick, who was offering him a way to stay on Berk, with all of that. All he would have to do is lie, and deny everything he had learned and discovered, and instead claim this was some sort of one-time miracle from the gods. That he had discovered how to break dragons and force them to serve him. Stoick clearly wanted to believe that version of events, needed to believe it.

Hiccup wouldn't even think about that choice. But Stoick wasn't really giving him the choice anyway.

Stoick held out his ax, his tone deceivingly jovial. "But I see two Night Furies here. You can keep the one Thor gave you. But kill the other one. They've raided us for hundreds of years, and you still need to kill a dragon yourself to pass initiation and become a real Viking. Besides, it's crippled. A Viking doesn't use broken weapons. That's all they are now. Weapons." He gestured with the ax, wanting Hiccup to take it.

Toothless. Stoick was telling him to kill Toothless.

Astrid was getting closer now. She was almost in guaranteed ax-throwing range of the crippled Fury. Once she got that close, she'd attack. The Fury was staring at Stoick, so it didn't notice her.

Hiccup looked at Stoick, and took the ax. He turned to Toothless.

Stoick practically beamed in delight. "That's my-"

Hiccup made eye contact with Toothless, and in that instant rushed Astrid, who was about to throw her ax. His approach forced her to keep the ax to defend herself. She screamed in frustration and attacked him.

Svarturkló blasted Astrid's ax as she raised it to attack. The force knocked her back, and her head hit the ground, knocking her out.

Hiccup returned to the center of the circle, standing between the two Furies. He whispered to them. "Get ready to fly."

The Vikings were watching from the ring around the Furies. They had no idea what to think. On the one hand, there was the chief's version of events. The one where Hiccup was the greatest Viking ever, a Viking who could subdue and control dragons. He was just stopping Astrid from stealing his kill. Perfectly normal for a Viking. On the other hand, there was the version of events in which... well, they didn't know what was going on. Just that Hiccup seemed to be siding with the dragons, but against that massive one here. They waited for Hiccup to clarify which version was the truth. So that they would know whether to admire or hate him.

Hiccup wore a sad smile. He might, in a perfect world, have convinced the Vikings of Berk that dragons weren't the enemy. But not now. Not when Stoick had given them an alternative they would prefer. Not when he had no supporters, and several people actively plotting to kill him. This wasn't going to accomplish anything. But he was going to tell the village, once and for all, exactly what was going on, and how he felt about them. Then he'd leave. Toothless had just suggested an exit strategy, and Hiccup subtly nodded to confirm he was okay with it. Toothless and Svarturkló were ready. He whispered some final instructions to Svarturkló and spoke his mind.

"That is a tempting interpretation of events. For you. It fits the Viking way perfectly. The thing is, it's laughably wrong. You want to know the truth? I shot the 'cripple' as you call him, down out of the sky myself!" Hiccup's voice dripped with sarcasm at the word 'cripple', and he put the hand not holding the ax on the Fury's back. "I found him, trapped and helpless, and I didn't kill him. And he didn't kill me. Because I had freed him from the control of the Queen by shooting him down. They aren't the enemy. They never were. She was." He gestured to the corpse most of the Vikings were still investigating. "And so we bonded. I learned from him, and he from me. I let him watch through my eyes as I went through life in the village. And he felt bad for me. A dragon, of all things, saw my life and decided that I could use a friend. Because none of you cared." This was a slightly twisted version of events in itself, but Hiccup wanted to make a point. It was still in essence what had happened.

He pointed at Gobber. "Except for you. You at least tried." He returned to addressing the dumbstruck audience.

"He watched through my eyes and helped me in dragon training. And I built the tailfin. Because I needed to fix the worst thing I've ever done. I restored his flight. At the same time, he helped me. I could never be a Viking. But unlike literally everyone else, he didn't care about that! He taught me to run, to use stealth. Things I was actually suited for! When I was selected to kill the Nightmare, I knew I couldn't do it. So I let all the arena dragons free. There's way more, but those are the important parts. I spared a dragon, he spared me, and together we ended the cause of a three-hundred-year war. But I can see none of you really care about that."

The murmurs and hostile glances he was receiving made that very clear. Hiccup continued angrily. "All you hear is 'spared a dragon' and 'released the arena dragons', and ignore the rest, the important parts. So while I hope you can change, I'm not sticking around to find out." He held the ax out in front of Svarturkló. "Consider this me saying 'I'll never be a Viking, and I'm happy with that.' Consider this my formal resignation from the tribe of Berk, or outcasting if you'd rather." He slightly shook the ax.

Svarturkló saw his signal, and let loose with the flame Furies reserved for melting or heating up stone for sleeping on.

The Vikings watched in disbelief as the Fury melted Stoick's ax, turning it from the perfect Viking weapon into a puddle of molten iron on the ground. The process wasn't very fast, but they were spell-bound by the sight of the ax going through an array of colors before liquifying.

After a few moments, when it was over, Hiccup dropped the charred remains of the wooden handle. "And consider that my resignation from the Haddock name. You can have it, I don't want it anymore." This was harder to say, but he knew it was the right thing to do. Let the name of an overly proud line of dragon-killers and chiefs no longer be tarnished by his very existence. He was done being seen as a disappointment, being pushed and prodded to change into a clone of Stoick.

Stoick had watched this with rising fury. He was angrier than he had ever been. When Hiccup had the ax melted, he saw red. But Gobber held him back, seeing that Stoick would be killed instantly by the dragons if he rushed Hiccup. He settled for screaming at Hiccup. "You bet you're outcast! I declare you a traitor to the Hooligan tribe! I disown you! You're dead to me! YOU ARE NOT MY SON!"

Hiccup sighed. "I already did all of that myself. But hey, you're the chief. Not the chief of me, anymore. Goodbye people of Berk and you're welcome for ending the war." He thought of something. "And just a word of warning, Astrid is going insane. Thought that might be good to know." He gave the signal.

Toothless had suggested a diversion that didn't involve fire or claws. It involved a reflex all Vikings had trained since childhood. When one heard a Night Fury, one ducked. It had been so often repeated and so often practiced that it had become instinct. So, when Hiccup gave the signal, Toothless and Svarturkló roared at full volume, facing opposite directions. The pure noise was immense. Most of the Vikings dropped out of pure reflex.

Hiccup had been prepared, and he hopped onto Toothless with no hands, as he was busy covering his ears. He didn't have the reflex, but it was really loud. The roars abruptly cut off as the two dragons took off, flying away from the Nest and the Vikings of Berk as fast as they could.

Hiccup was starting to feel dizzy. They had only been flying for a few minutes, but he didn't think he could hold on anymore. "Toothless, I think I'm going to fall..."

Toothless jerked, then steadied himself. 'Just hold on a little longer, there's a sea stack up ahead.'

The Furies reached the sea stack just in time. Hiccup fell out of the saddle before Toothless had even touched down with all four feet. He crawled to the edge of the sea stack and threw up the raw fish from earlier, along with everything else in his stomach.

As Hiccup was throwing up, Toothless saw a red tint in the hair around a spot on the back of his head. 'Hiccup, I think you hit your head in the crash.'

Hiccup laughed hollowly. The world was still spinning. "That would explain a few things. I get the feeling my little speech might not have made much sense."

Toothless was quick to reassure him. 'No, it did, although you could have made more sense if you had time to think beforehand. It kinda just came out. You hit the main points. Dragons not the enemy, Queen dead, friendship possible, all that. They didn't look like they believed you.'

Hiccup groaned. "Of course not. I didn't expect them to." His dizziness was getting worse. "Can we resume this discussion after I wake up? I think I'm going to faint." He crawled away from the edge of the sea stack.

"Or maybe not?" He tried to stand, and that was when he fainted.

Toothless caught him with his head, and carefully laid Hiccup out on the rock. He licked the head injury a couple times. Then he remembered his mother.

Svarturkló had watched all of this with an extreme amount of confusion. She could hear Toothless's side of the conversation, so it made as much sense as a conversation with a concussed person usually did. What confused her was the fact that the boy had held his end of the conversation, but hadn't understood her. She really wanted answers.

Toothless saw that look and felt his exhaustion all at once. 'Mom, can we save the discussion for later? We all should really be awake for it, and in a second only you will be.'

Svarturkló huffed, frustrated at having to wait even longer. 'Fine. But you better have a really good explanation for all of this.'

Toothless didn't hear her. He was as exhausted as she had been the day before. He had already fallen asleep.

Svarturkló licked the wounds she could reach, both on herself and Toothless, and settled down to sleep. When they all woke up, she would finally find out what in the world was going on.

But at least the Queen was gone.

 ** _Author's Note:_** **This marks the end of the second arc. I will clarify something now though. This is not a story involving the trope of 'Hiccup leaves, stays away, comes back and redeems Berk/retakes his "rightful" place', or any of the things that involves. That is one of my less favored plots, and one of the most overused. I can count the number of good executions of this trope on one hand, and _Prodigal Son_ returning from the literary dead less than a two weeks ago does count. Take from this statement what you will, but know that this will not follow that ridiculously overdone trope. We may see components of it, simple pieces, but my story will NOT follow it. I will no longer be predictable by canon either (this will be _extremely_** **apparent when in the far future elements of HTTYD 2 come into play). If you see elements of popular tropes in my writing, expect them to be either subverted, mocked subtly, or parts of a larger, unique plot that demanded them.**

**I had a rant about the specific aforementioned trope here, taking apart why it's both so popular and so unoriginal, but in the end decided it was unnecessarily long for an author's note. If anyone would like to read it, just say so in a review or PM and I can send it to you.**

**As a side note, this chapter originally did not involve such persistent targeting of the Queen's eyes. I am ashamed to say that it followed canon almost completely once they got into the air. But seeing all the assertions from various sources that I had to be setting up for a different end (and agreeing that I should be), I had a brainstorm Tuesday night and bit the bullet, replacing that scene with my own original Queen-killing strategy, one in which Svarturkló took a much more active role. It felt only fitting to have her end the Queen, especially as it allowed that nice reversal of canon at the very end. So, thank you** _ **SuperFanTastico**_ **and _toothlessgolfer,_ for pointing out that a canon death of the Queen seemed unlikely. (Oh, and **_**SuperFanTastico**_ **? Hiccup was never going to lose his leg here, even in the original scene. I do not, however, make any promises that he'll be keeping it for the rest of his life. Who knows what might happen.)**


	22. Chapter 22

Hiccup woke up to a splitting headache. He was probably dehydrated, and the head injury wasn't helping. At least his mind was clearer now.

He thought back to his little speech and winced at the memory. It wasn't that it was bad, but it could have been worded better. He was amazed that he had been able to come up with even that in his concussed state, considering he probably had been running off of adrenaline alone. It was a good thing working Toothless's tailfin was basically reflex. It was a miracle they'd made it out here without him messing that up.

He took stock of where they were. His heart almost stopped in fear.

They were on top of a tall sea stack, fairly close to the start of the fog that marked Helheim's gate. None of that scared him. What had scared him was the fact that the Berk fleet was apparently sailing back to home, and they were within shouting distance of this particular sea stack. Literally sailing right by, oblivious to the Furies and outcast hidden by the height of the sea stack.

Hiccup thought that if he spit, he might hit a Viking below him. That was how close one of the outlying vessels was to the sea stack. Man, that was a terrible way to wake up! He decided to wake Toothless and Svarturkló. If only so that they didn't do something loud when they woke up on their own. It probably wasn't a good idea to let the Vikings know they were there. After a moment of consideration, he decided to start with Toothless.

He approached the sleeping Fury. Now, how to wake him up without startling him? Hiccup thought he might know. He gently laid his hand on the dragon's head and started slowly scratching. Toothless always liked that when he was awake. Hiccup's guess was confirmed when Toothless's eye lazily slid open to land on him.

'Not that I'm complaining, but why?' Toothless was surprised to see Hiccup put a finger to his lips.

"I needed to wake you up without startling you. We can't make any noise. The Berk fleet is right below us, on their way back to Berk. They don't know we're here."

That woke Toothless up. He quickly turned to look at Svarturkló. She was still asleep. "How long until they leave? This sea stack, I mean." He wanted to know if they might be able to just let Svarturkló sleep until the Berk fleet had passed by.

Hiccup looked over the edge to judge the fleet's speed. "Maybe two hours? Those things aren't really that fast with no wind."

Toothless considered this. 'We can just let Svarturkló sleep until then.' He crept over to the edge overlooking the fleet. 'Can I do my business over the edge?'

Hiccup almost tripped. "No," he wheezed when he regained his breath, "bad idea!" He was struggling to keep his laughter to a minimum. "The idea is to stay hidden. A dragon rear end hanging over the ledge won't count as hidden."

Toothless stared at him. And then he understood. He quickly walked over to the other edge. 'I wasn't talking about that edge! I meant one on the other side!' He was extremely embarrassed.

Hiccup turned away to give him some privacy. "Sure, that's fine. But thanks for that mental image. A Viking covered in dragon droppings, trying to figure out what kind of seagull is that big. I'll treasure that for the rest of my life."

Hiccup resumed watching the fleet go slowly by. He was struck with a sudden pang of regret. Toothless sidled over a minute later and joined him in leaning over the edge, just his head actually over. They were practically invisible, because the Vikings would have to look straight up, and determine that they weren't just a few weird looking rocks.

'Are you alright?' Toothless was picking up on Hiccup's mood.

"Yeah. Just trying to think what I could have done differently. I feel like there was some path of choices I could have made that would have lead to the Vikings of Berk actually listening to us. Something that would lead to us all living in peace, Vikings and dragons. I can't help feeling I messed up somehow."

Toothless chuffed. 'Maybe. But you're ignoring something.'

Hiccup didn't look away from the fleet. "What?"

'No one is perfect. Not me, not any of those stubborn Vikings down there, and not even you. You tried. Maybe there was some magical combination of actions and luck that would have done it. But here, today, you just happened to not find it. It isn't the end of the world. Because you tried your best, and they wouldn't listen.' Toothless's tone turned slightly angry. 'And don't you dare blame yourself for the actions of a village that hated you until you started looking like you might be just like them in the future. A crazy girl who fixated on killing as her life goal. A power-hungry cousin who tried to kill you multiple times. A father who pushed you to be what he wanted you to be, ignoring who you really were. DO NOT blame yourself for any of that. I won't let you. Got it?' Toothless forced Hiccup to look him in the eyes, by means of hanging precariously over the ledge. He was entirely visible if anyone would think to look up, but he didn't care. This was more important.

Hiccup heard what Toothless was saying, and knew he was right. He couldn't blame himself. "Got it. Now get back before they see you."

Toothless shuffled back. 'What will we do now?'

Hiccup shook his head. "I don't know. Try to explain to your mom what's been going on." He considered that. He considered the fact that Toothless had a strong protective instinct. It was probably a species trait. If so... "About that..."

Toothless squirmed. 'Yeah, that'll be tense. I just want to get it over with. She was looking at my tail the entire flight from the Nest here."

Hiccup saw Toothless needed to be distracted. "Speaking of which, let me take a look. I want to see if it was damaged in the crash."

Toothless swung his tail into Hiccup's lap. 'I hope not. We might not be able to fix it.'

Hiccup laughed softly. "Worst case, Svarturkló can take me to another island with a blacksmith, and I can fix it there. But we don't have to worry about that right now. Crazily enough, nothing is broken or breaking. Even the leather is holding up. We fight a dragon that uses more fire than I've ever seen, and somehow you keep a flammable tail intact the whole way? I'm calling luck on that one."

Toothless snorted. 'That was skill.'

Hiccup poked his living tailfin. "For this end anyway. I call half the credit."

'But you were following my muscle directions!'

"Hey, a captain using a borrowed map is still a captain."

'I think your head is still injured.' Toothless was being petty now. He had no response to Hiccup's logic. Especially because he wasn't sure what a 'map' was. Hiccup had shown him his, but he had had a hard time recognizing anything.

Hiccup nodded. "Yeah, probably. We're going to need fresh water soon too."

Toothless sighed. "Well, this fleet better hurry up then. We aren't going anywhere until they leave.'

Hiccup went over to Toothless's side. He wanted to see what was in the saddle. As he recalled... "Hey, look at this!" He pulled out a tin canister. Gobber had a few, and Hiccup had borrowed one when he realized taking a waterskin on a flight was a terrible idea. He had needed a container that wouldn't burst under the slightest pressure. He opened it. "Fresh water. Not a lot, given we have two dragons here, but enough for us each to have a little."

Toothless lowered his head and eyed the canister suspiciously. 'That's metal, not water.'

Hiccup laughed. Instead of answering, he undid the lid. "Open your mouth."

Toothless complied, and Hiccup carefully poured a third of the water in. It wasn't a whole lot, but it was something. Hiccup then drank his third and put the lid back on.

Toothless licked his lips. 'I guess it is water. We should carry more of those.'

That was an idea. Hiccup would make a few more when...

'What is it?' Toothless saw Hiccup frown.

"I think the fact that I can't go back to Berk is starting to sink in. I won't really miss much, but I will miss a few things. The cove, for one. Even if it wasn't safe anymore."

Toothless agreed with that. 'Will you miss any people?' He wanted Hiccup to talk, instead of holding it all in. That might make it less painful.

"Maybe Gobber. Fishlegs was weird, but he was smart. And the twins made things interesting. Actually, I think the twins would have been the first to accept dragons as friends if things had gone differently."

That had Toothless intrigued. 'Really? I thought it would be Fishlegs. He never wanted to fight them in the first place from what I could see. He just wanted to study them up close, to add more numbers to wherever he keeps them.'

Hiccup laughed. "But Fishlegs is scared of them. He might have come around, but the twins would be all in from the start. They love destruction, and dragons are pretty close to destruction incarnate if they want to be. I'm surprised the twins never tried to make friends with a dragon."

Toothless had a thought. 'Maybe they will now. You've shown them it's possible.'

Hiccup grimaced. "Are you kidding? The village has been lambasting the same old villains for twenty years. Alvin the Treacherous, the Outcasts, and the dragons. They'll leap on the chance to add me to that list. If it's anything like with Alvin, I'll live in infamy, hated by all. Actually, I'll be just like Alvin, because they won't want to tell people exactly what I did. No one will say what Alvin did to be cast out, though I think I have a pretty good idea."

Toothless wanted to hear this. 'What do you think he did?'

"I put this together based on a few things. Gobber told us Alvin used to be Stoick's best friend. Ack told me Alvin and Stoick were on dragon duty as teenagers. Back then they used people our age in combat, without any training first. True survival of the fittest. Now, Gobber never says when exactly he lost his arm. He won't tell us exactly how, either. As best I can figure, Alvin did something on dragon duty during a raid that caused Gobber to lose his arm. Given his name, I'm gonna bet he ignored orders for personal gain. But one lost arm isn't a big enough deal to get outcast, so a few other people probably died as a result of Alvin's treachery. We do know that he took the name and went with it after he was outcast. Now he takes pride in it. He might not have been so bad to start, but I've heard tales of his more recent actions." Hiccup shivered. "I hope we never run into him."

Now that Toothless knew what this 'Alvin' character was like, he didn't want Hiccup to associate himself with him. 'You weren't outcast though.'

Hiccup stared at Toothless. "Were you there? I'm pretty sure Stoick shouted something along the lines of 'You bet you're outcast!' at the top of his lungs. That's all it takes."

'He can't outcast someone who isn't part of the tribe. And you left the tribe before he said that. So, I think it's more accurate to call you self-exiled.'

Hiccup liked the sound of that better than Outcast. "True. Which is good, because Alvin claims leadership of all outcasts, and I'd rather not work for him."

The conversation died down after that. They watched the Berk fleet sail away, slowly passing by the sea stack. Once the last ship was far enough away, Toothless decided to wake Svarturkló.

'Back up Hiccup. That scratching trick might get you killed if you tried it. I'll wake her.' Toothless approached Svarturkló gingerly. He barked almost in her ear, a short high pitched sound. He waited for a second, then did it again. The annoying sound was repeated this Svarturkló abruptly swatted him in the face with a paw. He leaped back and purred smugly. 'That's how Night Furies wake each other up.' After a moment his smug look faded. 'Actually, it's really annoying. Your way is better, at least for me.'

Hiccup smiled. "Well, now that I know how Night Furies do it, I might just start doing that instead..."

'Don't you dare. I'll slap you every time you do.'

Svarturkló slowly got up and stared at them. 'Why did you wait so long to wake me up?' She was addressing Toothless, but he was still relaying everything.

Hiccup figured it might not even be a conscious decision. Now that he thought about it, she didn't sound like Toothless at all. He wondered how that worked. Was he maybe actually hearing her through Toothless's ears by the link? He would need to ask about that later. Something was different now. Before, Toothless hadn't even told him exactly what the other dragons had said, like when he was releasing them from the arena. Now he was giving him everything, even things not directed at him, word-for-word. It helped to surpass any language barriers the already awkward conversation might have had.

Toothless settled down into a seated position, facing Svarturkló. Hiccup sat beside him. Svarturkló stayed standing. She began the long-awaited discussion with a slightly ominous remark.

'Svarturkappi, before we start I want you to thank the human for me. I want to get that out of the way before you tell me what's been going on. That way I can kill him if I have to.'

Toothless looked quite worried. Hiccup decided to intervene. "Thanks, but I can hear you. Now, anyway. And killing me is a bit of an odd way to repay me saving your life and your future."

Svarturkló looked very startled, and a bit annoyed. Maybe he wasn't supposed to hear that. 'That is the first thing I want to be explained.'

Hiccup shrugged. "Honestly, we don't really get it either. I mean, I don't know if Toothless is translating for me intentionally, or if it's automatic, or if I'm just hearing you through his ears without realizing it."

Toothless wrinkled his nose. 'Translating? I'm not translating anything. You must be hearing through my ears. Are you trying to?'

Hiccup tested the little bundle of senses in the corner of his head. Now that he noticed it, he did have hearing ever so slightly accessed. Not enough to even begin hearing through Toothless, but apparently enough to translate. "Actually, yes. I didn't notice until now because it's barely open. Cool."

Toothless agreed. It was nice to have his friend able to back him up.

Svarturkló huffed. 'Not that. I want to know how you can do anything with my son's head whatsoever. I don't like the idea of another Queen, but a Viking this time.' She snarled softly.

Hiccup leaned back. "Hey! He started it, not me. None of this is mine. If anything, Svarturkappi is messing with my head!" He turned to Toothless. "Although you know I don't mind."

Toothless met his mother's eyes. 'We really should just tell the story from start to finish. I'll be less confusing. And this is already confusing enough as it is, no matter how it's told.' He curled his tail around to Hiccup's other side. 'And you won't do anything until we tell the WHOLE story. That means no attacking halfway through. Got it?" That last question was underlined with a tense snarl. Toothless was not playing around.

Svarturkló eyed the prosthetic tailfin. 'Okay. But like I said, there better be a really good reason for all of this.'

Hiccup sighed. Time to rip the bandage off. Better do it quickly. "Okay, I'll start. I was never a very good Viking. I wasn't strong or stupid enough to do anything Viking-like. So, to prove myself, I built things. Contraptions of metal and wood to make up for my failings. They never worked. The last one I ever made was a machine that could throw bolas. It was to shoot down dragons. But I wanted to hit one dragon in particular. So, I set it up during a raid." Hiccup didn't want to continue. But he forced himself to anyway. "I got really lucky, and I hit something. A Night Fury. No one believed me, so I went out in search of him." Svarturkló had been giving Hiccup the stink eye for the last two sentences, and he gulped.

Toothless took that opportunity to take his mother's attention off of Hiccup. 'The Queen was using me that night for the raid, leaving me a prisoner inside my body, as usual. You know the drill. But when the bola snared me, and she couldn't break free, she thought I was going to die. So she pulled out and set me free so she wouldn't experience it. But I survived the crash. I lost my tailfin,' and here he had Hiccup put his hands on the prosthetic, 'and I was still trapped. Then, a little human found me in the woods. All he had was a knife, and I was sure he was going to end me.'

Svarturkló was staring at Toothless's damaged tail and artificial tailfin. He flicked it a bit, shifting Hiccup's hands. She looked back at Hiccup and snarled.

Hiccup continued the story in a shaky voice. "I found him. But in the end, I couldn't make myself kill him. That was because I looked into his eyes, and saw myself in his emotions. Fear, desperation. Everything my people have always said dragons don't have, don't feel. So I cut him loose instead. He pounced and pinned me, but he didn't kill me either. Just roared at me and flew off. I left. But I came back the next day, for no real reason. I was really surprised to find he was still there, in a cove. He couldn't get out. That was when I figured out that he couldn't fly. I came back the next day with fish."

Svarturkló was staring at Hiccup with malice, though not as much as before. 'You thought food was enough to repay grounding my son?'

Toothless interrupted before she could continue. 'Just keep listening before you jump to conclusions! No matter what Hiccup thought, he was a lot more help at that moment than you were, still enslaved at the nest. And either way, he was putting his life in my claws.'

Svarturkló flinched at Toothless's angry words.

'Anyway,' Toothless continued, 'The fish was to keep me from starving. We learned to trust each other that day. Me because I didn't have any other options, and him because he wanted to try an fix what he had done wrong. We trusted each other enough to make contact. And that was when I decided I needed to know more about him. So, I tried to use the thing the Queen had us use on Terrors.'

Svarturkló gasped.

Hiccup laughed. "Yeah, that hurt if I remember correctly. Worst headache ever for a couple of seconds. But once that passed, he could talk in my head, and we both could access each other's senses, whenever we wanted. So we talked, and then I went home. But I couldn't stop thinking about what I had done. I thought I might be able to make something to fix it." Hiccup reattached the prosthetic, drawing Svarturkló attention. "It took a lot of attempts, but this was what I could come up with."

Toothless took over again. 'But during that time, I learned about his life. Hiccup was alone among his own people. We became friends pretty fast. I helped him keep the captive dragons in the arena safe from the other Vikings when they trained against them. But that made Hiccup the look good to the Vikings. And as a result, made him an enemy, especially to that girl who tried to attack me at the Nest.'

Svarturkló stared questioningly. 'The one who smelled insane?'

'Yes. She got worse over time. She was just really angry at the start. Then, she cut a Terror in half for no reason. After that, you could smell it on her. I taught Hiccup to run like we do, and how to be sneaky. It saved his life at least once. Eventually, we decided to free the arena dragons, because Hiccup was going to be forced to kill one by the Vikings. So he set them free. That was the raid that we saw you in. Hiccup ran through the raid, risking his life a hundred times over to try to get to me so we could save you. But there was no way he would make it. We both knew that. But he risked his life and tried anyway. That was when I started thinking of him as my brother.'

Svarturkló eyed them both. Her expression was carefully neutral now.

Toothless continued. 'A lot of stuff happened after that. Hiccup and I coming up with a plan to save you was one thing. Another was Hiccup building a special weapon, with input from me. He made that scythe, the thing he was using this whole...' Toothless trailed off. 'Hiccup, what happened to it?'

Hiccup winced. "It got ripped off of my back at some point. I think it was probably destroyed when the Queen exploded." He noticed that Toothless wasn't happy about that. "I can always make another one bud. What do you say we make the next one even better?"

That perked Toothless back up. 'Yeah, we can make this one better looking too. Can iron be black, or purple maybe?'

Hiccup considered that. "Not iron. Maybe some alloy. I'll look into it at some point. That would be cool."

Svarturkló cleared her throat.

Toothless glanced over sheepishly at her. 'Sorry. So anyway, a lot of stuff happened, Hiccup's cousin tried to kill him, Astrid was planning on killing him, the entire village would kill both of us if they found me, and so on. Then the raid happened. We were going to save you, but...'

Svarturkló winced. 'I think I know what happened.'

Toothless nodded. 'The villagers were going to take a Nightmare, to replace the one Hiccup freed, and make Hiccup fight it. But they decided to make him fight you instead.'

Hiccup took up the narration. "But before we could do anything, the Queen attacked us using a Nightmare, and knocked Toothless out." He looked at Toothless in sorrow. "I tried to stop her, but I only hit her once before she got past me. I'm sorry."

Toothless chuffed. 'Then you hit her one more time than I did. Don't apologize for trying to protect me. We both know you need way more practice with a scythe. Nightmares are powerful warriors. I'm just glad she didn't kill you.'

Hiccup looked back at Svarturkló. "And that's where we met. I'm just glad you trusted me enough to pull off this crazy stunt to save Toothless."

Svarturkló looked puzzled. 'Who?'

Hiccup winced. Whoops. "Oh, he couldn't remember his name for a while, so that's what I called him."

Toothless interrupted Hiccup. 'And once I did remember, I told him to keep calling me that. I like the name. Svarturkappi is still my name, but Toothless is another. I like both. One reminds me of my family by blood, and the other my family by friendship.'

Svarturkló still didn't let any sign of what she was feeling about all of this show. 'So you need him to fly now? Your false tail moves so naturally...'

Toothless nodded happily. 'Hiccup taps into my sense of touch, and he can feel the muscles in my tail, so he knows what to do immediately. It feels like I have my whole tail.'

Svarturkló examined Hiccup. 'And what do you plan to do now? Svarturkappi will come with me wherever we go, and you have a home and family to return to. Now what?'

Hiccup looked down. "I don't know how much you understood, but that thing after the Queen's death, with the Vikings? That was basically me telling them what happened. They didn't accept it, so I kinda don't actually have a home or family anymore. Not that I had much of either anyway."

Toothless spoke in defense of his brother. 'His mother is dead, his father was the big guy who wanted him to kill me with the ax, his cousin was trying to kill him to take his place, and his uncle was encouraging it. That's the sum total of his blood family. And the village that he lived in was just as bad, if not worse. His nickname was 'Hiccup the Useless'. They only started noticing him when he started using what I taught him, and even then it wasn't very good. I was his only friend, and am his only real family now.'

Svarturkló stared at Hiccup. There was definitely something softer in her gaze now. 'Well then. In that case...'

The moment stretched out. Hiccup and Toothless held their breath, while Svarturkló considered things.

Svarturkló continued. '...you may come with us. But I don't entirely trust you yet. If you do anything to make me doubt your motives, I'll get rid of you myself. You will be with us on a trial basis.' Then she snarled. 'And if you do anything to harm either of us, I will kill you.'

Hiccup stood. "Bud, you wanna tell her what I did while she was going to the Queen to attack her? How I fought you off?"

Toothless looked confused. 'You didn't. You threw your weapon away and told the Queen it wouldn't help...' Now Toothless understood. '...It wouldn't help because you could never bring yourself to hurt me. You didn't even try to fight back when the Queen was a second away from blowing your head off.'

Hiccup looked at Svarturkló. "I can't hurt him, and I never want to hurt him by hurting you." He shrugged. "I didn't even want to hurt the Queen. I couldn't do it until I saw that you would die if I didn't. Hurting people really isn't something I do if I have any other option."

Toothless piped in. 'He didn't even want me to kill his cousin when we found out he had been trying to kill Hiccup.'

Hiccup laughed. "Don't think the idea didn't tempt me. That was a hard decision." He moved over to stand in front of Svarturkló. "Deal, on one condition."

Svarturkló looked slightly amused. 'And what condition would that be?'

Hiccup wasn't amused, he was deadly serious. "I'm going to keep trying to figure out how to fix Toothless's tailfin completely, to entirely restore what I took from him. That means we'll need to test things, to try out new ideas. But I need to fix what I did."

'Yes, you do.' Svarturkló growled. 'When my son can fly on his own, you will-'

Toothless cut in snarling angrily. "You're not getting rid of him. Not now, and not when he fixes my tail. Try, and I might just go with him."

That made Svarturkló flinch, her eyes fixed on Toothless. 'You would really..?'

"Yes."

'Very well.' Svarturkló turned back to Hiccup. Her voice was less antagonistic, almost considering now. 'We will see when that time comes.'

"Agreed." Hiccup nodded. The smile tugging at the corners of his mouth implied he knew very well Toothless's opinion on the subject wasn't going to change.

Svarturkló didn't show it, but that last interaction convinced her more than ever that this human was worth giving a chance. She didn't trust him much, but she would let him earn her trust. 'We have a deal.' She closed her eyes and held out her head. This seemed to be the way to seal bonds of trust with humans. After a moment, she felt his hand on her nose. He smelled of iron and Night Fury. Right now it was her son specifically that he smelled of, but in time, being around two Furies of the same family would blend his scent to that of a Fury of their family, not a specific individual. By then, she might be okay with that. Only time would tell.

_**Author's Note:** _ **Thanks for the support, anonymous and named reviewers alike. Any guesses as to what comes next? Some of you have already figured it out, judging by previous reviews.**


	23. Chapter 23

Hiccup felt nothing but relief. His future was anything but clear, but at least Svarturkló was giving him a chance. That was all he could hope for, right now. He would earn her trust and acceptance over time, like with Toothless. He had to. Toothless was the only family Hiccup had and Svarturkló was the only family he had - as far as Hiccup knew, at least. Hiccup wanted to be on good terms with her, and any other family Toothless might have.

Speaking of which... "Uh, Svarturkló, where exactly are we going to go?"

Svarturkló stared at him for a moment. 'Back to our pack. The other Night Furies. My mate and daughter are still there.' Toothless whipped around to stare at his mother incredulously as she continued. 'I haven't seen them in fifteen years.'

She glanced at Toothless, who was still listening intently. 'And Svarturkappi has never even met them. They don't know he exists. I laid his egg a few weeks after being captured by the Queen.' She looked down, unhappy with the memory. 'The Queen was ecstatic. She had captured two Night Furies for the price of one.'

Toothless spoke eagerly. 'I know the Queen forbade talking about the outside world, so I'm not surprised I didn't know any of this. What are their names?'

Svarturkló purred. 'Svarturvon is your sister and elder by three years, and Svarturskuggi is your father.'

Hiccup was starting to understand Night Fury names. He figured that Svartur was like a last name. He was proud of himself for figuring that out until he remembered Toothless telling him exactly that back when they were discussing what Hiccup should call him. Something was bothering him though. "You know where they are? Fifteen years is kind of a long time."

Svarturkló didn't look impressed by his objection. 'Night Furies live alone, on islands with only their own species, usually with just their immediate family. But our group is different. Our pack has four families, and more than ten adult Night Furies. What could make them leave?' She shook herself. 'Besides, we can just go see. It's a week or so south of here.'

That seemed to be the signal to get ready to go. Hiccup quickly repacked the saddlebags, and he and Toothless were ready. Svarturkló simply stretched her wings and waited the short time they took by circling the sea stack, looking for fish. As Hiccup and Toothless took to the air, she found a school, and so they briefly paused their expedition to eat. Hiccup was somewhat surprised to watch Toothless and Svarturkló catch the fish like normal but eat them then and there. While flying, doing their best to glide smoothly long enough. Toothless had never done that before.

Svarturkló, on the other hand, was even more surprised by what came next. Toothless grabbed one last fish, but instead of eating it, he briefly returned to the sea stack, charred it with his flame, and gave it to Hiccup, before rejoining his mother.

Svarturkló had to ask. 'I understand giving him fish when he can't catch his own, but why ruin it first? Was that out of spite?' She didn't think it was malicious, but it was a very strange thing to do.

Hiccup laughed. "Oh, yeah that. Svarturkló, humans generally don't eat raw fish. We have to heat it first. I mean, we can eat it raw, but it's really disgusting to us. He was doing me a favor." He thought of something. "Oh, but don't worry. I didn't expect you to know that when we were on the sea stack before taking out the Queen. It was still a nice gift." He didn't mention that he had ended up throwing it up, maybe she wouldn't remember that.

Toothless perked up, ears twitching. 'When was this?' He realized that Hiccup hadn't told him some things. 'Hiccup, what happened after I was taken? In the village, I mean.'

Hiccup was happy to share. "After you were taken, I eventually pulled myself together and realized that the only way to keep Svarturkló alive and save you was to get her to trust me and take us both to the Nest. So, I just spent the rest of the night worrying, because of course, I couldn't sleep, and then went to the arena. They put me in there with Svarturkló, and I guess the fact that I knew your name and hers, along with your scent on me convinced her to hear me out. I explained as best I could, and she decided to trust me and get us out of there." Hiccup looked over at Svarturkló. "Anything I'm missing so far?"

Svarturkló did indeed have something to add. 'In the middle of that, the big Viking with a hammer tried to startle me into attacking. He might have succeeded if I wasn't so focused on Svarturkappi's scent and the fact that the human said he was still alive. That Viking wanted me to kill you.' She was sure of this. Startling dragons usually always ended in them lashing out.

Toothless growled wordlessly, shaking his head Hiccup didn't seem at all happy with that news either. "Of course he did. Seeing his only son dead was better than seeing him a traitor. Too bad for him, that's exactly what he got anyway."

He shook his head, trying to rid himself of the resentment. That part of his life was in the past now. "Anyway, Svarturkló blasted a hole in the arena roof, and let me on her back to escape."

'I would have made it too, if I didn't have a weight slowing me down.' Svarturkló glanced at Hiccup.

"Toothless flies fine with my 'weight'," Hiccup replied, "though you can't really call the skinniest Viking on Berk that big of a weight to start with. Anyway, thanks to Astrid I ended up giving away how to get to the nest while getting us back into the air."

"She wasn't very fast." Svarturkló commented dryly. "Angry and slow, even if her weapon made her dangerous."

Hiccup snorted. "First time I've ever heard someone refer to Astrid as slow. Once we made it off Berk, Svarturkló was about to collapse. So we landed on a sea stack about halfway between there and the nest." Hiccup wasn't sure how to continue.

Surprisingly, Svarturkló continued the narrative. 'I set down, and my wings cramped up. Hiccup helped fix that.'

Hiccup laughed. "Human hands to the rescue."

Svarturkó eyed him oddly, though it was impossible to tell whether she was annoyed or amused. 'Then I wanted to keep flying. He didn't agree with that, he said I was too exhausted. I was going to go anyway, but he put me to sleep like a hatchling.' She stared at Toothless, daring him to laugh. 'He didn't seem to consider where he was standing when he did, so I ended up pinning him.'

Toothless burst out laughing and looked back to see Hiccup turning red. 'Seriously, you forgot? That happened when you found out about the pressure point in the first place.'

Hiccup defended himself sheepishly. "Hey, I had a lot going on. Save a friend, kill a Queen, end a war, prevent a stubborn dragon from killing herself-" Svarturkló glared at him. "No offense. Stubbornness is considered a positive trait where I come from." He coughed. "So anyway, when we woke up a while later, Svarturkló thanked me by giving me a whole raw fish. I ate as much as I could because I had no idea when I'd get anything else." He shuddered at the memory. "Still, it was a nice gesture. Then we flew the rest of the way, and you know the rest."

They continued on in silence. About an hour later, they sighted an island and landed at a stream. Hiccup filled his stomach and the canister while the Furies drank their fill. Then they continued on.

Hiccup discovered that night that Furies can sleep while flying. They would fly extremely high, to the point where it was freezing cold, and then they would lock their wings and tail and fall asleep. Apparently, they would only do this when flying in pairs, because the other Fury would need to wake them up before they glided too low. It didn't mean they could fly forever, because they still got tired physically and needed to set down eventually, but it greatly increased the distance they could fly without landing.

They did it that first night because Svarturkló was anxious to get back to her mate and daughter as quickly as possible. The only problem was that it was a horrible method of travel for Hiccup. Unlike Toothless, he couldn't fall asleep because he would fall out of the saddle. He was also freezing cold, almost to the point of frostbite. Despite the issues he bore it silently that first night, not wanting to get on Svarturkló's bad side by slowing them down.

Hiccup paid the price for his silence. By the time they set down the next morning on a convenient island, he was freezing and totally exhausted. Toothless took one look at him as he tumbled out of the saddle, and leaped back in shock.

Toothless had just set down from their overnight flight. He hadn't ever done that before, sleeping on the wing. It wasn't very restful, but it did make a night of flying pass quite quickly. He felt Hiccup dismount, rather oddly this time. Hiccup had stumbled.

Toothless turned to look at him, and jumped in shock, letting out a startled bark. Hiccup's skin was pale, and his hair had bits of frost in it. He looked horrible and was visibly wavering, struggling to keep his feet. Toothless tried to figure out what was wrong. After a moment it hit him. Hiccup had been up there with him, and humans had almost no insulation against the cold and wind. Hiccup had his clothing, but it wasn't built to keep that level of cold out. Then Toothless realized that Hiccup hadn't been able to sleep through the flight. He was probably dead on his feet after a whole night of that.

The dragon rushed to Hiccup and immediately curled around him, desperate to fix what he had unwittingly put Hiccup through. He could feel that his friend was freezing cold. Hopefully his body heat would fix that. Hiccup slumped, held up by Toothless's constrictions.

Hiccup tried to talk, but he was too cold still. "Th-th-anks," was all he could manage.

Toothless felt terrible. This was mostly his fault, but he was just a little mad at Hiccup too. He should have said something! Why didn't he say something? Maybe he had said something, but went unheard and assumed nobody cared.

That was a terrible possibility. 'Hiccup, you should have said something!'

Hiccup sighed. He was finally warming up, and the pins and needles in his hands and feet were almost welcome in comparison to the cold numbness. "I didn't want to slow you guys down. Thought I could handle it." He was regretting that now. Maybe if he had specially designed clothing, and a way to stay in the saddle while asleep. That was something to think about later. He was so tired right now, after staying up freezing all night...

Toothless watched as Hiccup fell asleep, still sitting upright between his forelegs. He let the human down slowly and arranged himself in their usual position, wing and tail working as a tent to trap body heat. He was glad he hadn't missed Hiccup objecting but angry his brother chose to suffer in silence rather than just tell him he couldn't travel like that. A few seconds later he noticed Svarturkló watching.

'Why didn't he tell us?' Svarturkló was more confused than anything. She hadn't noticed the human's plight during their flight, because the Fury who stayed awake flew below the sleeping Fury. As a result of that, she had either been asleep or flying below Toothless the entire night. Not that she had known a change from mostly white to entirely white in color meant anything. If she had noticed Hiccup's pale and shivering appearance, it was likely she'd have written it off as inconsequential. 'That was foolish of him.'

Toothless thought about it, and after a moment hit upon what he thought was the answer. 'He probably didn't want you to see him as a liability, something that slowed us down.' He didn't mention Svarturkló's understandable intense focus on finding the rest of their family. For Toothless, they were still an abstract concept. He had never met them. For Svarturkló, this was her chance to finally do something she had wanted for fifteen years.

There had been no accusation in Toothless's tone, but Svarturkló still felt it. She felt more than a little guilty. Despite how she had dealt with him on the sea stack, she didn't dislike Hiccup, she was just wary. Making him think he needed to prove himself by not complaining about what clearly was bad for his health had not been her intention. This was partly her fault.

She made a decision. 'We will stay here until he has recovered. And we won't fly like that anymore. It's too dangerous for him.'

Toothless snorted. 'Like we would even be able to leave like this.' He gestured to the unconscious human beneath his wing. 'No matter how instinctive it may be, he still needs to be conscious to operate the tailfin.' He rested his head and closed his eyes. Sleeping on the wing was no replacement for real sleep. Svarturkló settled down nearby. She probably felt the same.

But they hadn't explored this island, and someone needed to keep watch. He opened his eyes. 'I'll keep watch for a while, then wake you.'

Svarturkló agreed and promptly fell asleep. Toothless remained awake, head slowly swiveling to take in the grassy island they had stopped on. There was nothing around of interest, and nothing that looked like it could hide a threat. He kept watch anyway.

When Hiccup regained consciousness, he was no longer cold and tired, though his head felt stuffy, and his hands and feet felt stiff and cramped. He crawled out from under Toothless's wing and noticed that the dragon in question was still asleep. Svarturkló, however, was awake and looking at him.

Hiccup was a bit wary of her right now. Would she be mad for him delaying them? "I'm sorry for making you guys stop."

Svarturkló eyed him. Then she spoke. 'It is no fault of yours. It is mine, for choosing to rush, and for making you think I would think less of you for admitting you couldn't stand the same conditions we can. You're only human, after all. It was entirely my fault for not realizing that.' She bowed her head slightly as she continued.

'I should have considered the wellbeing of all of us, not just the dragons of the group. So I am sorry. Next time, do not hesitate to speak up. I may not fully trust you, but I would not see harm come to you, especially if it was easily preventable. I think no less of anyone for admitting weakness, especially when it is no fault of their own.' Her voice was neutral, a statement of fact.

Hiccup blinked, too thrown by that completely unexpected reply to say anything for a moment. When he did eventually speak, his voice was quiet. "Thank you. That means a lot to me."

'Wy?' Svarturkló snorted. 'I made a mistake, it hurt you, and now I am apologizing.' She seemed nonplussed.

"Why?" Hiccup waved a hand aimlessly as he tried to explain. "Where I come from, I'd be the one apologizing for slowing you down! For being too weak to take it, whether or not it was my fault. So for you to say that... yes, it means a lot to me."

'The place you came from sounds-'

"Barbaric, stupid, biased." Hiccup grinned. "I agree." He was beginning to realize that now more than ever he wanted nothing more than to be seen by her as a trusted friend and not just necessary baggage, however little she blamed him for that status. Gaining her trust and respect would be instrumental in being accepted by the other Night Furies... instead of eaten by them. Toothless was only one dragon, but Svarturkló was an elder.

'Then it's a good thing you left.' Svarturkló huffed. 'And a good thing you were not injured further by my negligence.' She looked down, ashamed.

"It was my fault too. I should have said something. But I accept your apology. We can both try to learn from our mistakes. I'm just glad I didn't lose any fingers or toes." Hiccup winced.

Svarturkló's head jerked up. 'That can happen?' She sounded horrified.

Hiccup nodded. "If they get cold enough for too long, they stop working entirely. At that point, they have to be taken off. Apparently, it can also happen to noses and ears, but that's really rare." He noticed Svarturkló's still horrified expression. "Don't worry, if I can still feel all my parts, I won't be losing them."

Toothless interrupted by yawning, apparently now awake. 'I take it you two have worked things out?' He saw Hiccup and Svarturkló nod and got up. 'Good.'

Without warning he pounced on Hiccup, pinning him to the ground. 'Don't you ever do that again! I don't care what you think will happen, tell me next time!'

Hiccup nodded again from his pinned position. "I promise." Toothless licked Hiccup, drawing out a groan. "Seriously?"

The three resumed their flight towards the location Svarturkló knew as the island the Fury pack called home. Now though, they stopped for nights. Hiccup was still somewhat surprised that Night Furies weren't nocturnal. Everything about the suggested that they would be. He asked Toothless and Svarturkló about it.

Svarturkló had an explanation. 'Usually, we are. However, the Queen was also nocturnal. Because of that, all dragons in the nest tended to sleep at night, to better avoid her attention when she was awake. So while we are usually nocturnal, Svarturkappi and I are not right now. Not that it really matters. Night Furies eat fish, so it isn't like we need the night to surprise our prey.'

Hiccup wasn't sure how he was going to deal with that. He supposed he could in time adjust his sleeping so that he was also nocturnal, but he couldn't see in the dark. That wasn't something he could fix.

Or was it? He also wasn't supposed to be able to understand Svarturkló. Thinking back on it, Hiccup realized something he had missed until now. The last time Toothless established the link, Hiccup went from hearing his dragon echo Svarturkló to directly hearing her own words. Until now, he always assumed he was just using Toothless' hearing, but what if it was something else?"

Hiccup turned to Svarturkló and Toothless. They were all resting on a beach for the moment. "Uh Toothless, I have a favor to ask."

Toothless got up. 'Yes?'

"I need you to go far enough down the beach that you can't hear me at all from there. I want to check something."

Toothless had no idea what this was about. He eyed Hiccup and Svarturkló for a moment. 'Why?'

"I want to check something." Hiccup smiled comfortingly. "I'll be fine. Your mom probably won't kill me."

Svarturkló stared at Hiccup, her expression unreadable. 'Why would I?"

Toothless sighed. 'Okay. How long should I stay there?'

Hiccup considered that. "Give us two minutes." He watched as Toothless trotted down the beach, and out of sight. He waited a minute, then turned to Svarturkló, who was watching him intently. "Svarturkló? Talk to me please."

'Why? What are you trying to do?' Svarturkló had no idea what Hiccup wanted. She was surprised to see him grin wildly.

"Yes, I was right! Svarturkló, I can still hear you, and I'm not listening through Toothless's ears. He can't hear this. So that means one of Toothless's attributes, hearing dragons talk and understanding, has been passed over entirely." This made Hiccup very hopeful. He had been helped to this realization by something else, something he hadn't really noticed until now. His hearing was getting sharper. It wasn't a big change yet, but now that he suspected he might be gaining other traits related to his senses, he could tell the difference. By always accessing Toothless's hearing to one degree or another, he was slowly gaining the attributes associated with that sense.

Which troubled Hiccup, actually. He was pretty sure hearing was a physical thing, and he had thought that the link was purely mental. Was it possible for the link to change him physically? He wasn't sure if that bothered him. But he had another pressing concern, one that had to wait until Toothless returned to be addressed.

Toothless ran down the beach. He continued running until he couldn't see or hear Hiccup or Svarturkló anymore, then waited for a few minutes. He had no idea what Hiccup was doing, but he trusted him. Toothless spent those minutes running in the surf. He felt a bit silly doing it, which was why he didn't do it around his mother. But the pure freedom he felt in the spray of the sea, the feeling of wet sand squishing around his claws… Maybe it was silly, but he'd never been able to do this as a fledgling, so he was making up for lost time. Lost time spent in the depressing and rocky confines of the nest, the Queen an ever-lurking presence.

Once a few minutes had passed he returned to Svarturkló and Hiccup. Hiccup looked happy but also troubled.

Toothless sat down in front of him, panting. 'So, what was that about?'

Hiccup looked him in the eye. "Toothless, has your hearing been getting a little worse lately? Like, just a little, but noticeable." He seemed like he was dreading the answer. "This is important."

Toothless thought about it. He really did. 'No, not at all.'

Hiccup stared at him. "Are you sure?"

'Yes. Now, what's this about?' Toothless was relieved to see a grin on Hiccup's face.

"Toothless, I can understand dragons now. Whether or not you are around. I think my hearing is changing to match yours. I can hear a little better now, and it's been improving ever since we relinked at the Nest."

Toothless understood now. 'So you wanted to know if you were somehow taking mine, instead of just changing to match me. Well, you aren't. So this is great!'

Hiccup frowned. "Yeah, but how far will it go? I was under the impression that the link was purely mental.'

Svarturkló intervened here. 'I may be able to help explain.' She grimaced. 'Rather, the Queen might. She liked to wax eloquent about her powers.'

Hiccup nodded. 'Toothless told me that.'

Svarturkló continued. 'The Queen was apparently able to control every part of a dragon, even parts they could only control reflexively themselves. That included their minds, of course. She once bragged that she could increase a dragon's sense of hearing and sight simply by manipulating their mind. Apparently, it has limits, but only part of those senses are physical. So your sense of hearing is probably only changing on the mental side of things, not the physical one.'

Hiccup thought about that. "So my hearing might get better, but it won't be as good as Toothless or you, because I don't have the physical equipment for it." That was good. He didn't particularly want his ears to change in appearance as well as sensitivity. That'd be a bit odd looking. Following this logic... "So if I figure out how to do this with my other senses..."

Toothless picked up the train of thought. 'Your sense of smell would increase, but still not be as good as mine. Same with sight. You'll probably develop night vision because that's determined by how much you can expand your pupils. It's a mental thing.'

Hiccup had to disagree with that last part. "But my eyes are much smaller, so my pupils will still be way smaller no matter how much they expand. I probably will be able to see better at night, but it won't be night vision. Actually, all of this is gonna be pretty limited by my lack of a Night Fury nose, ears or eyes. Not that I'm complaining. The most useful part of all of it has already transferred over entirely. Being able to understand dragons." He smiled.

Toothless chuffed. 'That is true. But we don't really know what will happen. This is all guesswork. Are you going to try to improve your other senses?'

Hiccup considered it. "I guess I'll try to do the same thing I have with hearing. But I want you guys to tell me immediately if I start looking different. I'll probably need to interact with other humans occasionally, and I'd rather not look half-dragon if we end up being wrong and the link is changing me physically. Deal?"

Toothless snorted. 'We have to look at you, so we'll be sure to prevent you from turning into some abomination. Easier on the eyes that way. But I'm pretty sure it's all mental.'

With that reassurance, Hiccup focused on the pocket of senses in his head. He could still see that he was holding hearing ever so slightly open. He did the same with sight and smell, but left taste and touch alone. He didn't think he would benefit at all from those, and he really didn't want to develop a love of raw fish. "Done. I guess we'll see in a few days whether it's working."

Toothless crouched, and Hiccup got on. Svarturkló and Toothless took wing. The break was over. By Svarturkló's calculations, they would reach the island by the day after tomorrow. She was practically vibrating with excitement by the time they set down that night. Toothless was much calmer, but he was still excited. Hiccup was happy for them both, and personally intrigued by the idea of meeting more Furies, but he was also nervous about how he would be received. He spent the entirety of the next day's flight trying not to think about what would happen the next day. That night, none of them got much real sleep. They were all up bright and early, ready to finally reach their destination.

Toothless was flying beside Svarturkló when she spotted a blob on the horizon, in front and somewhat to the left of their current course.

She swerved and set a course straight for it. 'That's it!' She spoke the next words softly, not really meaning them to be heard. 'It's been so long...'

Toothless couldn't contain his curiosity. What was it like? What would his father and sister be like? He and Svarturkló both flew faster, almost racing towards the island. It was a fairly nondescript epitome of a habitable island, complete with forests, plains, a few small hills, but no mountains or cliffs.

And, Hiccup noticed right as Toothless and Svarturkló faltered, it had a village in the middle of it. A large, sprawling village. Not exactly what he had been expecting, given Svarturkló said Night Furies live in isolation, for safety. "Uh, guys? I'm not sure they're still gonna be here."

Svarturkló whined softly. She spoke in a tone close to despair. 'Sometimes, the islands we lived on would be discovered by humans. We live in secrecy. If they started to settle, we would leave. We all had thought this island wouldn't be found, because there's nothing around for a very long flight. They must have left. They could be anywhere, and I have no idea where to start looking!' That last bit was almost a howl. 'We don't even know how long ago they left!'

Hiccup felt that same despair for a second. But at Svarturkló's last comment, he straightened his back. "Well, we won't give up. We can start by finding out how long ago they left."

Toothless looked back at Hiccup. He saw his determination and took heart from it. 'Yes. And I think I know how we can start. You can find out from that village how long they've been here. If we're lucky, they can even tell us which way the pack went when they left!'

Hiccup sighed. "That'd be a really lucky break, given they were probably trying to hide when they left. I'm not sure if the humans even knew the Furies were here if they were so dedicated to secrecy. But I can definitely find out when the village was settled." He surveyed the island. "We'll circle around and fly low, and land in that forest." He noticed Svarturkló's continued despair, and his voice softened. "Svarturkló. We aren't going to give up here. We just need to find out where they've gone. We can ask every dragon within fifty miles if we need to, and I can help by asking humans."

Svarturkló slowly regained some of her composure. 'Right. We will.'

Toothless curved low, almost skimming the water, and Svarturkló followed suit. They circled around as Hiccup had said. Half an hour later, the three travelers set foot on the island that had been their destination. But now they had a much more difficult journey ahead. They were going to try to find their long-lost pack, a group of dragons who were known for their secrecy, and who had a fifteen-year head start.

Hiccup laughed a bit bitterly as a thought occurred to him. This might take months, or even years if they were unlucky. The irony was, they had time. All the time in the world. It wasn't like they had anywhere else to go.


	24. Chapter 24

"I'll be fine. As far as any of them know, I'm just a random traveler." Hiccup remembered his words to Toothless and Svarturkló as he walked through this village, so similar and yet so different to Berk. These people were Vikings, but a slightly different kind. They weren't dragon-killers, they were more of the marauding type of Viking. That was evident from the fact that the village's most common form of currency was random valuable items, the kind acquired in bulk from raiding and pillaging. It was a confusing system, and Hiccup had nothing of value. Not that he needed anything here, just information.

He was looking for a very specific person. Every village had one, an old man or woman who was supported by his family and spent their days talking to anyone who would listen. That would be his best source of information.

His walk through the village was interrupted by something quite interesting. What had caught his attention was something Berk definitely hadn't had. He was looking down a side street, into what seemed to be a rudimentary open-air market of sorts. Berk had been barely on the edge of subsistence, everything had been communal property. This place had enough to spare thanks to its habit of pillaging that villagers could make a living just selling things. Like Trader Johann, but staying in one place.

Hiccup noticed a pile of parchments on the edge of one of the stalls, and his curiosity took over. He moved to where he could see what was on them.

They were maps. From what he could tell, they were centered on what he assumed was this island. From the scale, they covered a massive area, at least a few hundred square miles in total. That would be extremely useful. This wasn't just Hiccup's love of cartography talking. The map had islands labeled and showed whether they were inhabited. That would save them months if they ended up just searching at random. But he had nothing to trade.

The trader who manned that booth could tell Hiccup was interested, and he launched into a spiel. Hiccup wasn't listening. He was wondering what he might possibly have that could be traded. Then some of what the trader had said caught his attention. "Wait, say that again?"

"Why sir," the trader answered in his obnoxiously high-pitched voice, very odd on any Viking, "I simply said that I myself collect maps! If you have one of an area I have yet to cover, I'll give you anything in my for sale stock of maps that you want! It must be accurate, however."

Hiccup grinned. He pulled out his notebook and flipped a few pages in. The page he stopped on was a map of Berk. That might be a little too small. He flipped it over and saw that he had done a map of the immediate archipelago surrounding Berk on the other side. Perfect. "Do you have a map of Berk and the surrounding islands?"

The trader sighed apologetically. "I do indeed. I actually have several. So, unless you can show me something I do not have about that area, I am afraid you will not be able to take advantage of my offer."

Hiccup smiled. He did know one thing no one would have put on any map yet. "I can mark the nest on those maps for you. I've been there." He let that sink in.

The trader stared at him. "No Viking knows where the nest is. The Vikings of that area, Berk especially, have been searching for hundreds of years. What kind of fool do you take me for?"

Hiccup laughed. "None, I'm serious." He decided to give the trader a piece of the truth, and let him assume the rest. "A Berkian just recently found it. I've been there, along with most of the rest of Berk."

The trader seemed to read the truth in his face. He clapped, startling Hiccup. "Perfect! Follow me please." He left his stall and proceeded to lead Hiccup to a house several streets away. "This is my home. My master map is inside. I saw your maps of Berk. You drew them yourself?"

Hiccup nodded. This guy was certainly enthusiastic if nothing else. He entered the house, faltering and staring once the interior came into view. The far wall was entirely covered in parchment. Hiccup could just barely make out that it was a map. It was scaled so that this island was at the center, about three feet above his head , about an inch in diameter. The scale of the map was immense, though much of it was blank.

Hiccup approached the map wall. He quickly located Berk, a few feet further up, because it was North of here. "Do you want me to put it on here?" He looked around and noticed a ladder in the corner.

The trader nodded. "You seem to be something of a cartographer yourself, so I'll let you put it in. As accurately as possible in relation to location and scale, please.

Hiccup nodded in understanding and got the ladder. He took out a charcoal pencil and moved up so that he was eye level with Berk, quickly locating the massive fog cloud that was present on the map. He marked the general outline of dragon island and put the symbol for a volcano in the middle, labeling it 'The Nest'. Although, that was just a name now. No dragon would voluntarily live there now.

The trader clapped again. "Excellent. Would you be able to draw a more detailed outline here," and he pushed a blank piece of parchment at Hiccup as he descended from the ladder, "and mark anything of interest? If you can."

Hiccup was aware that he was giving the trader something to duplicate and sell with this, but he didn't mind. The man seemed like an enthusiast, and it was just an abandoned chunk of rock, so Hiccup decided to be as accurate as possible. Of course, that would raise questions of its own. He sketched the outline of the Nest island, noting the maze of sea stacks that surrounded it, and was sure to use the symbol for terrain that indicated nothing growing and no animals. The outline of the volcano came next, followed by the more interesting details, such as erasing part of the volcano and adding a spill of boulders that spread from where the Queen had broken free. Then he indicated where her corpse was. He was pretty sure that was big enough to count as a landmark and would be there for a long time. With that, he was done.

The trader looked at the map. "A volcano? Interesting. Any dragons?"

Hiccup made eye contact. "Not anymore." Let him infer what he would.

"Would this be where the Vikings piled their corpses?" The trader pointed to the location of the dead Queen.

Hiccup smiled. "Nope. They all flew away before Vikings even stepped foot on the island. All except for one." He pointed at that spot. "That one. We left her where she fell. Not like we could move her."

The trader thought about that for a moment. He paled. "This is to scale?"

Hiccup was smiling now. He didn't particularly like what had happened there, but the trader's reaction was entertaining. "Yup. She would have left a bigger corpse, but she kind of exploded on the way down. Left quite a mark."

"Well, you've certainly earned your pick of my maps. Let's go back to my stall." The trader exited the building, after very carefully storing the map of the Nest in a box. They returned to the stall, which apparently the trader had completely forgotten would be unattended in his absence. Luckily, all he had was a few piles of maps, so no one saw anything worth stealing.

Hiccup flipped through the piles and selected the map that covered the greatest area. Hopefully, the Furies hadn't traveled beyond the few dozen islands mapped out. He had thanked the trader and was about to leave when he remembered his original question. "Oh, by the way. You wouldn't happen to know when this island was settled, do you?"

The trader thought for a moment. "No, actually. I set up shop here four years ago."

Hiccup thanked him for his help and returned to the main street. The trader didn't have the desired information, so he would still need to find an old-timer who would know, and would be happy to share.

Hiccup wandered for another hour before he found just that person. She was an old woman and was sitting outside a house, talking to, or rather at, any passerby within hearing distance. She didn't seem to mind being ignored by the people going about their business. He approached her.

"Hello. I was hoping you might be able to help me with something."

She seemed vaguely shocked someone had actually asked her something. "Eh, what's on yer mind?"

"I was wondering if you knew when this island was settled."

"Oh, we found this place eleven years ago, almost to the day. No one here." Her face darkened. "Well, 'cept for some dragons." She continued, seemingly very annoyed at a past injustice. "No one believed me, but I was sitting out on the boat the night we started building the first houses, and I saw a bunch of shadows pass in front of the stars. There were dozens! No one else saw it, and they said I was getting senile. We haven't had any dragons here ever since. And good riddance!"

She slammed a staff Hiccup hadn't noticed before on the ground. "Going senile, they said. Well, eleven years later, and I'm still sane! You've reminded me, I need to go bother my son. Show him I'm still sane enough to bother him." She got to her feet and started walking towards the street, leaving Hiccup sitting there.

Hiccup was pondering his turn of good fortune. What were the odds that the only two people he talked to would have and know exactly what he needed? He couldn't remember his luck being this good before. He got up, and turned, heading back to where he had entered the village. As he did, he idly wondered what Svarturkló and Toothless were doing to pass the time.

'This isn't a good idea.' Svarturkló was doing her best to act the part of the mother right now, but Svarturkappi's idea on how to pass the time promised to be entertaining, if risky.

'It'll be easy. Humans aren't very observant.' Toothless paused. 'Besides, no one sees what they don't expect to see.'

Svarturkló thought about it. 'But what if they do?' She would be fine, but Svarturkappi couldn't fly on his own.

'Then I'll run. These Vikings aren't like the ones on Berk. They aren't ready to fight at a moment's notice. Half of them aren't even carrying weapons. Without their sharp tools and fake scales, they're pretty weak. So it's not that big of a risk.'

'Fine. I'll follow you.'

Toothless turned and moved stealthily to the edge of the village. No one was around at the moment. He jumped to the top of the nearest house. It sagged a bit but held his weight. The idea had come to him when he had compared this village to Berk. There were a lot more houses here, and they were closer together. He and Svarturkló were going to see the village up close, by stealthily traveling the rooftops. Sure, it was the middle of the day, but these Vikings didn't seem to be in the habit of watching the sky. Besides, there was nowhere safe for him to hide so he could watch from Hiccup's viewpoint, and they were both bored. This was the next best thing.

As Hiccup walked down the main street, he had the nagging feeling that he was being watched. He slowed and looked around. Nothing unusual, maybe half a dozen other people around. He looked behind him. Nothing.

He finally looked up. Nothing unusual there either, it was a sunny day, Toothless and Svarturkló were on the rooftops, there was a light breeze, a few clou-

Hiccup faltered as his brain registered what he had seen, and he tripped, twisting to sprawl face up in the middle of the road. The dragon made eye contact and smiled widely. Hiccup hurriedly got up and cursed his inability to talk to Toothless in his head without physically talking out loud. What were they thinking? Toothless didn't surprise him, but Svarturkló did. Maybe she didn't trust him enough yet to act normally around him. Maybe she was more of a thrill-seeker than he thought.

He decided to get out of the village as fast as possible. Hopefully, Toothless and Svarturkló would follow. He started walking faster, carefully avoiding looking at the rooftops. It was amazing that they hadn't been seen yet.

Hiccup walked the next five minutes in a heightened state of nervousness. Every loud noise made him jump, and every shout made him think someone had finally noticed the two rather large black lumps darting from rooftop to rooftop. Granted, Toothless and Svarturkló were being stealthy in regards to noise and movement, but nothing they did would stop them from being seen if anyone decided to look up. But no one did.

At the edge of the village, he saw something that made his stomach twist. In an alley, three larger teenagers had a smaller one cornered and were beating him senseless. Hiccup couldn't just stand by. Not when everyone on Berk had stood by when that had been him. He wished that he still had his scythe. Not that he would have used it, but the intimidating appearance would have sufficed. As it was, they were just as likely to attack him as stop attacking their current victim. Actually...

"Bud, I hope you're listening. I'll lecture you later, right now are you up for scaring the living daylights out of those three?" Hiccup was whispering, and he glanced up at Toothless.

'Count me in. But not in the middle of the village, surely.'

Oh right, now the Fury cared about the village seeing him. "I'll lead them into the forest."

Hiccup stepped into the mouth of the alley. "Hey, meatheads!" All three looked back at him immediately. "Are you three naturally that ugly, or is it a gift from Thor?"

That did the trick. They advanced menacingly, saying nothing, content to let their fists talk for them. Hiccup ran. Not at all fast, just enough that they wouldn't catch him before he reached the forest. Once he was safely out of sight of the village, he stopped and turned around. They were panting, but still managed to appear menacing, slowing to a walk as they approached.

Hiccup decided to taunt them while he was at it. Anything to keep their attention on him, and not what was going to show up behind them. Before he could speak, the one he assumed was leader spoke up, a tall and ugly teenager. Hiccup hadn't been kidding, all three were actually quite ugly.

"Another runt? And a foreign one too. Any final words?" These words weren't spoken so much as grunted.

Hiccup was quite enjoying this. It was something of a replacement for how he would have liked to deal with Snotlout back in the day. He smiled. "Yeah. Lesson one in not being an idiot." His expression grew cold, and his words were ominous. "Don't pick on the weak. We might not fight back very often, but every once in a while one of us does. And it's scary when that happens. You're lucky Night Furies don't eat people."

The three teenagers stared at him. "What kind of Yak dung are you-" A Night Fury dropped in front of him and roared, full volume, right in his face. The leader promptly fainted and the other two screamed very non-Viking screams and ran.

Hiccup shook his head. Snotlout would have at least tried to fight. Then again, this island didn't really see many dragons. "Nice work. Now, let's leave before anyone works up enough courage to find out what that noise was."

Toothless snorted. Hiccup could tell he didn't have a high opinion of the people here. "Come on, enough of them together might be dangerous. Besides, I got what we came for."

Svarturkló dropped out of the trees to the left of Hiccup. He looked at where she had been. "Geez, you guys can climb? I guess wings and claws help. Let's get out of here." Hiccup took a step towards Toothless, then stopped. "Actually, we should take off from somewhere out of sight of the village. No need to give this guy", he pointed at the unconscious teenager, "any credit. No one will believe him if they don't see us leave." He grinned. "We can run there. I want to stretch my legs anyway."

Toothless liked that idea. 'Sure. Should be fun.' He grinned at Svarturkló, who had no idea what he was doing. He realized this after a few seconds and hastily explained. 'It's a human expression I picked up.'

Svarturkló shook her head. 'Will Hiccup be able to keep up?' She had never seen him run.

Toothless examined the fairly dense forest. ' question is, can _you_?' He grinned at his mother.

Hiccup smiled. "Let's go then. First one to the edge of the island wins!" He took off at top speed. Toothless followed immediately.

Svarturkló stared after them for a second. Svarturkappi hadn't been kidding. Hiccup really could run like one of them. She realized she was still standing there, and darted after them.

The victim of the three teenagers was enduring his daily beating when someone intervened. That was unusual. So unusual it had never happened before. He was shocked to see another teenager, one he hadn't seen before, insult his tormentors and run. They had immediately followed him, and the victim had followed them. Discreetly, of course. He had hidden behind a tree and watched as the foreigner turned and faced the three teens and heard what he said.

Which meant he was there to see the black dragon drop from above, and roar ferociously at the teens. He was frozen in fear, and so was still around to see the foreigner hold an apparently one-sided conversation with the dragon, and see another similar dragon drop from above. He watched as the foreigner grinned, said something about the first one there winning, and he watched in utter disbelief as he disappeared into the tangled forest with a speed he hadn't thought possible on that kind of terrain with the dragons chasing behind.

They were gone. Leaving the victim with an unconscious teenager and a head full of shattered perceptions of the world. He snapped out of his shock and ran, leaving his tormentor behind, and ran into the village. Everyone he saw immediately questioned him about the strange sound as the two tormentors were rendered speechless and desperately needed a bath and change of pants.

His response was simple. "Someone taught them", he pointed at the two tormentors "a lesson." He grinned as he addressed the two tormentors. "I wouldn't say anything else. He might come back if you do." They paled.

Personally, he wouldn't mind if his rescuer ever came back. The foreigner seemed to know things no one else did if what he could do was any indication. Maybe someday.

Hiccup had lost the race. Surprisingly, so had Toothless. Svarturkló was smirking on the beach when Hiccup and Toothless had arrived, neck and neck. They collapsed, completely out of breath. Hiccup spoke first. "I guess experience matters. She smoked us both!" He looked at Toothless, then back at Svarturkló. "Who came in second?"

Svarturkló smiled. 'It was very close. However, I can say honestly that I think Hiccup was slightly ahead.' She cut Toothless's protests off. 'Yes, I know your head was in front of Hiccup. But I would say that as you run on all fours, the center of your body is what counts. As Hiccup was only slightly behind where your head was, he was in front of you. Barely.' Her voice became very amused. 'You have disappointed me, son.' Both Hiccup and Toothless could tell she was kidding.

Hiccup smiled. "Beaten by the one you trained. The student has become the master."

'Of being small enough to fit.' Toothless retorted. 'I had to squeeze past brambles and between trees.'

"Maybe lose some weight?" Hiccup suggested innocently.

'As soon as you gain some,' was Toothless's reply. They both broke into laughter.

Svarturkló stood and stretched. 'So, what did you find out Hiccup?' Her voice was still upbeat. The jaunt through the village and the race had helped her stave off the despair she couldn't help but feel when she considered their task.

Hiccup smiled. "I found out two things. First off, the Furies left eleven years ago." He saw Svarturkló droop, and hurried on with his explanation. "That isn't great, but I have it on probably sane authority that none of the settlers even knew they were here, and that they left in the night. So we know there wasn't a battle, and no one got hurt. They just had to leave."

Hiccup pulled out the map. "The other thing is, I managed to get a map of the area. It can tell me which islands are uninhabited around here. Svarturkló, how far do you think the Furies would have gone?"

Svarturkló thought for a few seconds. Finally, she shook her head. 'I don't know. They would have sent scouts in all directions. Each scout would have flown until they found a suitable island, then returned. The pack would pick one, and they would go. Depending on which island they picked, they could be anywhere.'

Hiccup spread out the map. "Then we'll rule out any they wouldn't pick." He pulled out a charcoal pencil. "First, we cross off any inhabited islands. Even if they did settle there, they'd be gone now." He crossed out all the islands with villages. "Now. What do the Night Furies look for in an island?"

Svarturkló replied swiftly. 'Freshwater, some forest for cover. Ideally far from humans, though that isn't a requirement so much as a preference. And not one inhabited by other dragons already. We don't kick other dragons out of their homes.'

Hiccup crossed out the few islands that were designated as all rock. No forests or fresh water there. This was a large map, and most of the islands on it were fairly isolated. There were still twenty or so viable candidates.

This was going to take a while. He crossed out two more. They were marked as densely populated with dragons. Night Furies wouldn't be there. That left eighteen. Eighteen separate islands, all across the map.

"Well, the good news is we know where to start looking. The bad news is this is going to take a while unless we get lucky and find them on one of the first few places we check."

Toothless purred reassuringly. 'We have time.'

Hiccup frowned. "I'm more worried about something else. We've been getting lucky with finding islands to stop on so far. From what I can see, we're going to have to spend some nights on islands with villages. That's risky."

Svarturkló didn't like that. 'Can you keep us away from those?' She looked up to see Toothless and Hiccup both staring at her. 'What? He's the only who can even see the little thing, let alone somehow figure out what it means.' She squinted at the parchment for emphasis. 'He should be the one to plot our course. To decide what order of islands will be the most efficient while keeping us away from villages as much as possible.'

Hiccup nodded. "I can, but which is more important? Staying away from villages is a good thing, but it will add weeks if not months if we avoid all of the islands with villages. We're limited in how far we can go in a day, so we have to island hop. Here, this might help." He went to a flat section of the beach and used his boot to make two marks in the sand.

"One of these is us here, and the other is an island we want to go to." He put one mark directly between the two and made a semicircle of three marks that arced out from the origin island and eventually neared the target island. He pointed at the mark directly in between the two original ones. "This island is inhabited." He gestured to the three off to the side. "These are not. We can get from here to our goal in two flights if we sleep on the inhabited island, or we can get there in five flights, but sleep on the uninhabited islands."

Hiccup looked up and saw both Furies watching intently. "That's a big enough detour. On the map, it's going to be way worse. Trips to some islands from certain ones might actually take months if we avoid all inhabited islands, where they would take a week if we didn't." He made eye contact with Svarturkló. "We can do that. But it will add months, maybe years to the search if we avoid them all. Or I can come up with a route that tries to balance efficiency and safety. Or, I could just take us on the fastest route possible, but that would have a lot of inhabited islands on it."

Svarturkló nodded. The explanation had been helpful. 'We should balance speed and safety, you are correct.'

Hiccup smiled. "Good. I'll figure that out." He looked at his demonstration. "This might take a while. Toothless, why don't you show Svarturkló how to draw?' Hiccup laughed quietly as Toothless nodded, and raced off to find a suitable pair of saplings to uproot.

Svarturkló looked confused, a face Hiccup was becoming very familiar with.

Hiccup sat down with the map and began to figure out their path for the foreseeable future. "Don't worry Svarturkló," he remarked absent-mindedly, "Toothless is going to show you something I think you'll like while you wait."

In a few minutes, Hiccup had been entirely circled a dozen times by lines drawn by the two Night Furies. Svarturkló took to drawing with as much enthusiasm as Toothless had, and with about the same result. A bunch of swirly lines and a few dots. However, she did attempt to draw Hiccup at one point, managing a fairly good stick figure. Hiccup noticed that particular set of lines with amusement once he had finished charting their course.

All told, if they found the Furies on the last island, it would be some six months. However, he knew that if the Furies were on one of these islands, they were likely to find them before then. He just hoped the Furies were on one of these islands. Like Toothless had said, they had the time.

Hiccup looked down. His charted course looked very similar to some of the squiggles drawn around him. Some of the dots even looked like islands. He had been plotting one course, and the Furies had drawn another. Hopefully, Night Fury pack hadn't followed a course as crazy as the one drawn in the sand around him.

**_Author's Note:_ ** **Due to my personal schedule, while chapter 25 will come on time, chapter 26 will be delayed until the 25th, posted most likely right before midnight. However, chapter 27 will be posted on time on the 29th, so it's not too big of a delay, and as chapter 26 ends on a cliffhanger anyway, that makes it less of a wait until 27.**

**To the reviewer Verdauga, who apparently binge-read the entire story last night: Thanks for all the reviews! It's rare that anyone reviews an old chapter at all, and even rarer that someone binge-reading to catch up reviews.**

**Also, someone brought up the question of how Hiccup and Svarturklo communicate so easily in these last few chapters. It's been going without saying (literally) that Toothless from time to time has to translate or clarify, though Svarturklo is refining her grasp of Hiccup's language fast, almost unnaturally so.**


	25. Chapter 25

_**Author's Note** _ **: In case anyone was wondering, I don't like typing long names (whether or not I like the names themselves) any more than you like reading them (especially when those names involve non-english letters, such as ó, pronounced like the 'o' on 'clothes'). Luckily, in-story methods of avoiding that abound in this particular universe. Rest assured, no matter how many ridiculous names are introduced, the important ones will over the course of the story be shortened to something manageable.**

Svarturkló looked at Kappi and Hiccup as she paced nearby, walking into and out of shadows cast by the moon. They were both asleep, the human sheltered under the wing of the dragon, both looking as if they'd collapsed there. It was a sight she'd gotten used to. The last three months had been hard on her boys, and the long days of flight always caught up to them whenever they reached one of their targets.

Svarturkló realized she had thought of Hiccup and Kappi as 'her boys'. Well, Hiccup had been proving himself trustworthy for the last three months. His plan to use that oddly marked hide hadn't made much sense to her, but it was working. As well as could be expected, anyway. They'd found plenty of candidate islands, but their quarry remained hidden. That was ignoring the many uninhabited but unsuitable islands they stopped on, and the few that were already occupied.

Yes, it had been a trying few months, but that did not mean that it was all bad. She was seeing more and more how similar her son and Hiccup were, now that she had spent so much time around them. Both were smart, sometimes sarcastic, and kind-hearted. They acted like brothers, played like them. She was truly starting to consider Hiccup one of her own. She hadn't told either of them that, but she was pretty sure Kappi at least knew. Her son had begun referring to her as Kló again, like he had done back in the nest. Hiccup had followed suit, apparently not aware of the meaning behind names for Furies. Both she and Kappi had let him remain unaware for the time being.

Her mind wandered back to some of the events of the past few months. Specifically, the ones that had been most important in her gradual acceptance of a human into her family.

* * *

They were en route to the second island on the list. Kló had remembered that Hiccup's plan involved an overnight flight soon and so insisted he get some heavier clothing since this island they were resting on had a village. Since he would need valuable items for bartering, they had gone hunting the night before and acquired several valuable pelts.

Kló and Kappi waited in the woods while Hiccup went to town before the shops closed for the night, cautious to avoid leaving footprints in the snow that would raise unwanted questions about dragons on the island.

'Kappi, what are you doing?' Kló was sitting at the base of a tree, watching Kappi climb. He was halfway up already.

'I'm getting to a safe place, so I can see what Hiccup is doing without leaving myself vulnerable.' Kappi reached a sturdy branch, and hung as if to sleep by his tail from it. He was practically invisible in the trees.

Kló sat at the base of the tree and listened as Kappi relayed what Hiccup was doing.

'He's trading the pelts now. The trader gave him everything he wanted... and some money too. Those pelts were way more than enough. That's good... Hiccup found something else.' At this Kappi got really excited, still relaying to Svarturkló at intervals. 'It's a staff, but the wood is really dark blue! It would be perfect for when we make another scythe. He's using some of the extra money to get it... He's still got some left. Now he's headed back...'

In a few minutes, Kló could hear Hiccup coming. But at that moment, Kappi growled, still using Hiccup's senses. 'He's being followed... they are going to attack him... he doesn't want to lead them towards us... I convinced him to anyway because they smell like violence and anger... they've all got weapons... Hiccup's running this way!'

At this, Kappi dropped out of the tree, teeth bared. 'Hiccup says for us to hide. He wants to try to scare them off.' He leaped back up, closer to the ground this time.

Kló jumped up into a nearby tree. It was going to be difficult for any human to see them against the dark sky and trees. Hiccup would with his gradually improving sight, but these thugs would not be able to.

In a few moments, Kló could see Hiccup. He saw them, and ran to stand somewhat in front of the trees they were hiding in. Kló growled inaudibly as four large men advanced on Hiccup. This was no group of teenage bullies. The one in front had a bow. He drew, and pointed the arrow at Hiccup.

"Foreigners pay the tax around here. Our tax. You haven't paid. Somehow, you slipped by us whenever it is you came through the docks."

Hiccup held the staff in one hand and was already wearing his new clothing, a heavy coat with a hood and gloves the only obvious changes in his appearance. His boots had been reinsulated, and he had a much thicker set of pants now, but those were subtle changes. He still looked skinny, despite the coat, and gripped the staff like he knew how to use it. Kló remembered Kappi saying he used a scythe fairly well, but a stick was different. This stick really was different, and it was made of a strange dark blue wood, almost black. Hiccup leveled the staff at them. His voice was calm. "This tax is paid by all who arrive by boat?"

The archer sneered. "Yeah, and you haven't paid. Pay up." His three thugs stepped forward, all armed with bludgeons. They looked bored, like this happened all the time. It was starting to snow softly.

Hiccup smiled disarmingly. "That explains it. I didn't come by boat. So I was never at the docks, and never even knew such a tax existed." His voice was still carefully neutral.

Kló knew Hiccup was telling the truth. Unfortunately, the archer and his thugs weren't convinced, and didn't care anyway.

"We all know the only way to get to an island is by boat. Unless, of course, you swam here?" The archer's voice was mocking now. "Or, I suppose you flew here. Feel free to show us any wings growing out of your back as proof of that. There's room for them under that coat." He sneered again. "Our tax might not be common knowledge, but we make sure all foreigners pay it. I don't know how you slipped by us, but I don't like it. Can't have word getting out that our little tax can be avoided if you're sneaky." He drew back the string of his bow. "However you did it, your secret will die with you."

That was all Kappi could stand before he pounced from the tree onto the archer and tore the bow out of his arms. Hiccup immediately attacked the thug closest to him, slamming the staff into the thug's stomach, knees, and head in quick succession. There was power fueled by fear and anger in his blows, and the thug dropped like a sack of grain.

Kló saw one of the thugs try to get away, running from Kappi in terror. She leapt from tree to tree and pounced on him as he ran. The thug only had time for one short, abruptly silenced scream. She showed no mercy. From what these men had been implying, this village would be better off without them.

After she had removed the head from the rest of the body, something occurred to her. She was in complete control. After being under the Queen's dominion for so many years, it was… strange… to fight for herself. Not bad, though.

Her thoughts were cut short when she heard a screech of fear. Kappi!

Kló ran as fast as she could back to the location of the main fight, but by the time she got there, it was over. Kappi was keening loudly, hunched over Hiccup's prone form. He was bleeding, and there was an arrow sticking out of his arm. As Kló ran closer, he groaned, and sat up, clutching the arrow with his good hand.

Hiccup stared blankly for a second at the arrow. It was sticking out of the muscle of his upper right arm. Kló didn't think it was in too deep, but hopefully it wasn't barbed. Hiccup pulled it out with his hand, screaming in pain as he did. It hadn't been barbed. He dropped the arrow and awkwardly squeezed his arm above the wound, to stem the blood flowing out.

Kappi quickly moved over to lick the wound, and once he was done Hiccup quickly bound it. Hiccup would be fine; Night Fury saliva had proven to be a powerful painkiller and kept wounds from getting infected.

Kló demanded, as they fled the scene, to know what had happened. It was Kappi who told her.

'Hiccup had stopped one of the thugs, you were chasing the second. I had finished off the archer and was moving over to help Hiccup. That one he was fighting had a thick skull, he didn't stay down for long. We had just knocked him out for good when Hiccup dove in front of me. The arrow would have taken me in the eye. Apparently, the last thug had decided to grab the archer's bow, and wanted me dead more than Hiccup.'

Kló had met Hiccup's eyes. 'Thank you.' She could only hold great respect for one who would literally take an arrow for her son, even if he was a human.

* * *

They made a very short hop to the third island so Hiccup could rest in safety. His heavy clothing proved effective in keeping him warm on the long overnight flight to the fourth island. That one had been particularly bad; Apparently at some point after their map had been made, a colony of Whispering Deaths had moved in. That was when Hiccup learned that being able to communicate with dragon's didn't assure him of being able to coexist with them. The Whispering Deaths were none too fond of their visitors. They weren't open to any discussion of any kind, but chased them with the intent to kill until an exhausted Kló and Kappi finally managed to escape. Hiccup had redirected them to a small island close by to rest. It was marked on the map as uninhabited.

Kló collapsed in the sand. Kappi fell beside her, both of them utterly unable to even move. They had flown most of the day, spent several hours flying at top speed, and then flown another hour without rest to get here. Needless to say, they were all a bit discouraged.

Hiccup went a little way into the forest to see if he could find fresh water. He crossed that last island off of his list as he walked.

Kló tried to pull herself up but failed miserably. She was just too exhausted. Then she stiffened. She heard voices, human voices.

"I was sure I saw two dragons fly this way. Night Furies!"

"Caw, your seein' things again."

"Hey, who're you?" At that, Kló's heart leaped into her throat. They must have found Hiccup. And both she and Svarturkló were too tired to even stand.

"Me? I'm, uh, Alvin the poor but honest farmer! I wanted to see if the uh, soil was good for farming here! So I rowed my boat here." Hiccup wasn't the greatest liar.

"Well, did you happen to see any dragons? Thorgils here says he saw two Night Furies. I'll tell you what. If you know where they are, lead us to them, and we'll split the profit. Fifty-fifty. That's enough for us all to live like kings!"

"Fifty-fifty?" Kló's heart sank. He sounded like he was considering it. "How's that work when there are three of us?"

Kló would have despaired, but then she saw Kappi. He was calm. He seemed ready to fight, but he also seemed sure Hiccup wouldn't betray them. She caught his eye, only for him to grin reassuringly. Apparently she was the only one worried.

"Oy, that's a good point. 'Ow do we each get fifty? Varin, you aren't gonna cheat me are ya?"

"Yes, I am." There was a loud clang. "Now we can split fifty-fifty. So do you know where they are?"

"Yeah, actually. Right over there." Now Kló despaired.

"Okay, this way?"

"Yup."

Kló heard a grunt and then a loud noise, like a small tree falling into a stream. A few moments later, Hiccup reappeared. His face was pale, and he moved quickly. He dropped a cudgel he was holding as he ran. "Can you guys fly? We really should go before that guy wakes up. I don't know if there are more of them on the island."

Kló grunted. 'It feels like my wings will fall off if I try.'

Kappi purred. 'But we'll be fine in the morning. What exactly is the situation here?'

Hiccup understood what he was asking. "They seemed like dragon hunters. I ran into two, Varin and Thorgils. They saw us fly in. I goaded Varin into knocking out Thorgils, then took Thorgils' cudgel and knocked Varin into a stream. He might not be unconscious now that I think about it." Hiccup quickly grabbed his almost-black staff. "He might come looking for us."

Kló thought quickly. 'Cover us in sand. Not our noses, but everything else. We're far enough up the beach to not have to worry about the tide. This way we won't be so visible from a distance.'

Hiccup laughed and set to work. In half an hour, he had created two sandy hills where there used to be two exhausted Night Furies. He set up in between them, staff in hand.

Kló had her eyes closed, but Kappi was telling her what Hiccup could see, so she didn't feel too exposed or vulnerable. They spent the night like that, uncomfortable as it was. Kló even managed to get some sleep. Hiccup stayed up all night, guarding them.

When Kló woke, she almost forgot what was going on. Then she remembered. 'Hiccup, is it safe out there?'

Hiccup's voice was strained with tiredness. "Yeah, you're good."

Kló erupted from the sand like a small explosion, showering the stuff everywhere. She was very surprised to see who she assumed was either Varin or Thorgils, tied up and gagged a few dozen yards away. 'When did that happen?' She quite enjoyed the blank panic on the hunter's face as he struggled to free himself and yawned in his direction, being sure to show her teeth. The dragon hunter struggled harder.

Hiccup walked up from behind her, staff in hand. "A few hours ago. He apparently decided to keep searching for you guys once he regained consciousness. I had to attack him because he was about to walk right on top of you. He might have noticed something." He gestured to the frantic prisoner. "He's definitely noticed something now."

Kappi erupted from the sand. Kló found it quite amusing to watch.

'My question is, how did the hunter not notice you?' Kappi had apparently been listening for a moment.

"My eyesight is still improving a little at a time. I'm by no means able to see in the dark yet, but I can make out shapes a lot better than he can. I saw him coming, and snuck around behind him."

Kappi eyed the near-hysterical prisoner. 'What do we do with him? He's kinda seen a bit too much for comfort. He's seen Night Furies, for one thing. And you, talking to us. He might spread rumors, attract unwanted attention.'

Kló didn't like the sound of that. Furies as a species relied on safety in secrecy. 'Get rid of him.'

Hiccup spread his hands. "I can't just kill him in cold blood. Let me talk to him first. Try to figure something out."

'Or you could just solve the problem. Like I said, kill him.' Kló did not sound at all happy. 'We live by secrecy. Do you really think you can keep us secret and keep him alive?'

"I can try first." Hiccup responded. "At least let me try."

'Let him try.' Kappi chimed in. 'It doesn't hurt us to do that. If he can't keep the human silent, then-'

'Then I can kill him.' Kló finished. 'Fine. But if you fail, Hiccup, we will not have this discussion again in the future.'

Hiccup didn't seem very happy with that. "Fine, but I don't really think that's fair." He walked over to the prisoner and removed the gag.

"Don't kill me! What kind of lunatic talks to dragons like they can understand him anyway? We can still split the money! Just lemme go and we can kill them..." The hunter might have not been smart enough to consider the stupidity of insulting his captor while trying to get himself released, but he could see the mounting rage in Hiccup as he spoke. He trailed off, but not before crossing that line that had been crossed one time too many in the last day.

Hiccup visibly restrained himself from doing anything other than scowling. When he spoke, his voice carried all of the fury he would have liked to unleash physically.

"Let me get this straight. For you, and for any hunter you ever tell this to. There isn't enough wealth, power, or anything else in the world to make me even consider betraying my brother or his mother." He took in the hunter's confused expression. "I consider them family, and if I ever hear of a hunter named Scart again, I'll hunt you down and kill you myself."

Kappi growled in agreement. ' _We_ will.'

Hiccup continued with a dark smile. "Take up another line of work. Something that doesn't involve dragons in any way."

"Sure, sure, I will! Just lemme go!" The hunter seemed to consider that more than a fair trade.

Kappi cut in. 'He's lying. I can smell it on him.'

Hiccup's face darkened even more. "The dragon can smell lies. Swear it, so that I can be sure you'll hold to it. And if he can still smell you lying, I'll let them decide what to do with you."

The hunter grimaced and lowered his head, defeated. "I swear on Odin himself to take up a line of work that in no way involves dragons, and to never hunt a dragon again. I'll, uh, take up fishing! Or woodcarving!"

Hiccup looked to Kappi for confirmation.

'He isn't lying,' Kappi agreed.

Hiccup cut the hunter loose and turned to the Night Furies as the hunter ran as fast as he could in the opposite direction. "Ready to go?"

That was the day Kló truly believed that Hiccup considered Toothless family. And maybe herself as well, though he wouldn't consider her a mother unless she allowed him to.

* * *

Kló was finding it hard to sleep. She was sprawled out on a rocky outcropping just above a lake, watching the moon's reflection. Kappi's soft snores were faintly audible behind her. She had been there for a few minutes when she heard Hiccup get up. He moved to sit beside her, also peering over the edge at the water below.

"Don't give up hope. Even if it's all you have right now." He was clearly referring to the complete lack of success they had been suffering from. This was the tenth island, a perfect candidate… and completely devoid of Night Furies. It was depressing. He seemed to be talking to himself, but his words were clearly meant for Svarturkló.

She subtly angled her head to look at him out of the corner of her eye. He seemed a bit sad.

"At least you get to search. When my mother was taken, I was a baby. I couldn't even understand the situation, let alone help look. And when I look back on it now, how my father just set out blindly to bring her back. He never developed a plan, though, and even started his search with seeking the dragon nest, probably as some sort of misguided vengeance. He had no hope, though, so he was doomed to fail because he acted knowing he would fail. Why plan carefully when it didn't matter? That was what he must have thought, deep down. And he never found her."

Kló had never heard this story. She had wondered what had happened to Hiccup's mother, but only in passing. Now she regretted not asking. 'What was her name?'

"Valhallarama, but apparently she liked to be called Valka." Hiccup laughed softly. "She disliked her own name so much that she preferred a nickname but ended up having to name her only son Hiccup. That's just ironic. If I hadn't been born a runt, I probably would have a really generic name, like Lars. Something short and not at all mockable." Hiccup didn't sound angry or resentful. He was more thoughtful than anything. Maybe a hint of actual amusement.

Kló thought about that. She could see his point, but... 'She didn't get to choose your name?'

Hiccup sighed. "Viking tradition. Runts are named Hiccup. I share the name with several small sheep back on Berk. I should be thankful. Some tribes float runts off to sea to die. Yet another Viking tradition. The reason Berk doesn't is probably because they needed every possible person to fight in the war. I wonder if they'll go back to it now."

Kló was horrified, but that particular custom was not the point she had been trying to make. 'I think if you wanted to now, she probably wouldn't mind if you changed it. Your name, I mean. She basically did the same thing, with a name her parents actually picked for her.'

Hiccup was quiet for a few minutes. "Maybe, someday. I wouldn't want to name myself though. Names should be given." He looked up at her. "We got kinda far from my original point, didn't we."

Kló smiled. It was something her son had taught her recently. 'I got it all the same. Don't give up hope.' She looked at their reflection. A boy and a dragon, sitting side by side. 'And thank you. For everything.'

Hiccup stood. "Goodnight, Svarturkló." He went back to Kappi's wing and was soon asleep. Kló stared at her reflection for a few more minutes and then curled up nearby. Sleep came quickly.

* * *

They were a few days travel away from the island that was number eleven on the list of possible candidates. Kló and Kappi had set down for the night on an uninhabited island Hiccup had directed them to. They were settling down for the night when it happened.

Hiccup had been standing right next to her. And then he was gone. Kló had only seen a flash as if something was invisible...

"Toothless! Svarturkló!" That was Hiccup, but where was he? His voice seemed to be pained, and it was fading even as he screamed.

Kló roared, a deafening cry that got even louder when Kappi joined in. The noise must have startled what Kló was pretty sure was a Changewing, because it fled to the air, judging by the sudden wind originating somewhere nearby. And Changewings can't camouflage against the air. So, Kló whirled around, and in an instant she spotted the dragon in question, along with Hiccup, who was dangling from its back claws, dripping blood as he was carried off.

Kló knew that Changewings were opportunistic predators not prone to giving up prey. It was definitely planning on eating Hiccup. She saw red. She bolted into the sky and caught up to the dragon in seconds. Without thought, she tore into the Changewing's side. There were no words. There was no fire. This was a pure, rage induced mauling, and the Changewing didn't stand a chance. It faltered almost immediately and whipped its head around in an attempt to spray acid.

Kló had planned for that and leaped from her hold on its side to the red dragon's neck. One wrench of her jaws on its neck and the dragon went limp. In the same instinctive state, Kló lunged to grab Hiccup, who was now unconscious. She had to grab him with her mouth, but she had carefully sheathed her teeth so the hold wouldn't hurt him. She pried him loose from the dead dragon's grip as they plummeted, managing to get him loose just seconds before they would have crashed into the ocean along with the carcass of the Changewing. Once she had regained control of her momentum, she quickly flew them back to the island, Hiccup safely held in her gummy mouth by the torso. She carefully set him on the ground, and Kappi immediately began searching for wounds to treat.

Kló stepped back, the red cloud over her mind receding. Once Kappi had treated the talon marks on Hiccup's shoulders, he curled up around him and shot Kló a grateful look. He probably recognized that rage and said nothing as there was nothing to be said. Hiccup woke up sore but alive the next day and thanked Kló for rescuing him. He seemed to have the sense not to ask about the Changewing.

That was the day Svarturkló had first begun to realize she considered this human one of her own, subconsciously. Because that had been a mother's rage.

* * *

Svarturkló was pulled from her memories and back to the present by the call of some night bird nearby. She surveyed the area, prowling quietly around the clearing. Nothing was around. She sat down next to Toothless and considered all that had happened. She still wanted to find their pack. But she remembered what Hiccup had said. Don't give up hope... even if it's all you have. She wasn't going to give up hope. But it wasn't all she had either. She had her son. Sons. Maybe she could be happy with just them?

They would keep looking. But hope wasn't all she had. She considered something else Hiccup had once said. Maybe, someday soon. When the time was right.

_**Author's Note:** _ **Next chapter will be delayed until late Sunday night. On the bright side, that means less time left on a cliffhanger...**


	26. Chapter 26

They were most of a day's flight from the twelfth island of the eighteen Hiccup had marked on his map as potential candidates for being the island now inhabited by the Night Furies. They were going to be spending most of the day in the sky because the closest island to this candidate was that far away. Hiccup, after more than three months of journeying, had gotten used to being in the saddle most of the day.

The boredom, however, was something neither he nor Toothless ever got used to. Some days passed in silence. Usually, that was because Hiccup was making a concentrated effort to speak to Toothless mind-to-mind. That still hadn't borne any fruit, but Hiccup kept trying. He still felt it was something he should be able to do.

Other days, they talked. This was one of those days. After three months, they had moved on to rather unusual topics of conversation.

'I'm telling you, the world is round.' Toothless was arguing with Hiccup, but it was all in good fun.

"I think so too, but that isn't what Vikings believe." Hiccup thought about what he had just said. "Actually, the Hysteric tribe thinks the world is round. But they also claim they sailed for three months and found a massive new land... but turned around and headed back when they saw that the people there were all skinny. They say they wanted to go back to where people could put up a fight. Personally, I'm betting they attacked just for fun but had the yak dung kicked out of them. There was a suspiciously large amount of souvenir arrowheads brought back."

Svarturkló laughed. She didn't engage in these discussions, but she seemed to enjoy listening to them. They probably helped relieve the boredom for her too.

Toothless knew how to end this discussion. 'Look at the horizon. It curves. Argue _that_!' He roared triumphantly.

Hiccup was at a loss for words. How had he never noticed that? They always flew this high up now that he had his deep winter clothing. He touched the navy-blue staff attached to the saddle at his side. His clothing, the staff, and a scar on his arm. The three things he had gotten that day. He returned his attention to the discussion. "The argument wasn't whether it was true. I already believed it. The argument was about what Vikings believed. Try telling a Viking that he needs to fly on a dragon to be proven wrong. You won't get very far, because they won't understand a word you're saying." With that, Hiccup had won the debate.

They lapsed into silence. Hiccup had thought that topic up, so it was up to Toothless to pick the next one.

'Hmmm...' Toothless made that noise to reassure Hiccup that he was thinking, not falling asleep on the wing. He searched his brain for any topic they hadn't already been over. He decided he could risk a slightly sadder one given the mood. 'How about, "what do you think happened back on Berk in the time we've been gone?" Or is that too depressing?'

Hiccup considered that. "Nah, it's fine. And an interesting question. We know the raids are over, and we know the village hates us. But what's happened?"

Toothless thought he had a clue. 'Well, Snotlout's probably the heir now that you're gone. Astrid will be in some position of power. Snotlout seemed a bit freaked out by her willingness to kill you, so he'll try to keep her happy.'

"And to Astrid, happy means killing dragons." Hiccup remembered something. "No, it means one-upping me. And to her, one-upping me means..." That wasn't a good thought at all.

'Means what?' Toothless heard something in Hiccup's tone, something important.

"I think we know exactly what Astrid wants now. Think about it. First, it was killing dragons in general. Then, it was killing me, so she could be the best. She's always been focused on being the best of our generation… and killing things, now that I think about it, though that may be coincidence. And what did Stoick want me to do? What did he decide I was capable of, that Astrid was not?" Hiccup really didn't like where his logic was leading.

'Killing a Night Fury. So when he did that...' Toothless had it now too.

"He upped the ante. Now, for Astrid to be the best of our generation in her mind, she has to kill a Night Fury. No, she thinks she needs to kill several because she's seen me survive being in contact with multiple Night Furies, and she wants to one-up me. Bud, I think we've created a monster. That might come back to bite us someday."

Svarturkló interrupted them, not wanting either to feel guilty. 'Astrid was insane, I smelled it. Anything she does is no one's fault. You didn't create the monster, you just got its attention. Besides, there have been a lot of Vikings fixated on killing us. One more isn't going to make a difference.'

Hiccup calmed down a little. "Yeah, I guess you're right. We should come up with a less depressing topic of conversation."

Svarturkló wanted to take their minds off of Berk. 'I would like to suggest one. It's more of a question, really.'

Toothless was happy his mother was participating. 'What is it?'

Svarturkló flew a little closer. 'I wanted to ask Hiccup how his senses have improved. He's had them open for three months now. Are they still increasing in strength?' This last part was directed at Hiccup.

Hiccup hadn't really thought about that much recently. "They stopped changing about a month ago. I think they're as good as they can get. My hearing didn't increase in range, but I can distinguish sounds a lot better now. Like if there are five different sounds, I can choose to hear any one of them, and focus on it. As for my sense of smell, not much. My sight has improved a little bit, and I can see well enough with only a tiny amount of light. It isn't night vision, but it's close enough. So, all in all, about what we expected. I didn't change physically, and that means my senses could only improve so much. Still, it's cool." He frowned. "I still think I should be able to communicate like Toothless does. I might get it eventually."

Svarturkló had stopped listening halfway through. Something had caught her attention. She could see their destination on the horizon. It was quite distinctive.

Toothless noticed it too. He slapped Hiccup with his ear, and Hiccup accessed his sense of sight, to take advantage of the Fury's stronger eyes.

The twelfth island on the list of potential candidates was almost a teardrop in shape and was mostly covered in extremely dense forest. The tapered point of the teardrop had apparently been submerged at one point because it was mostly sand on the edges. The island was massive, and in the eye of the teardrop rose a single oddly shaped mountain. Unlike most mountains, this one had no top, as if the tip was shaved off to leave behind a relatively smooth rocky plane of rock. The island had many hills leading off of the mountain, and the forest seemed like a wave frozen in time, hills and valleys as the crests and troughs of the wave. It was beautiful, and it was mostly unfit for human habitation. There was almost no flat space and immensely thick underbrush everywhere. Animals were scarce, though there were probably a few around. Certainly no native cattle species, given the terrain. In other words, it was perfect.

Svarturkló sighed. 'If this isn't the place, I don't know where they've gone. There can't be a better island for Furies within a thousand miles of here.'

Hiccup really hoped this was the place. It seemed so peaceful.

However, it was probably better to see if there were any Furies here before getting his hopes up. Toothless began a very shallow dive, angled at the island, and Svarturkló followed. They flew through the cloud cover, which was fairly light today, and descended further. The island was very large, and it took them a few minutes to circle the mountain. There were no signs of draconic presence. Not that they expected any. Furies were nocturnal and very used to hiding their existence. The three travelers eventually began searching for a place to spend the remaining hours until nightfall. At midnight, they would search the island again. That was the routine they had established. They had done it for the last eleven islands and would do it again, as many times more as necessary.

They settled down on the one and only beach they saw, which lined the edge of the tapered point of the island, where they rested, recuperating from the long flight there. Hiccup privately thought that this was the most lifeless island they had seen in weeks. No sign of dragons, no wild boars, just a few birds and squirrels among the trees.

That night, Svarturkló woke them to do their final sweep over the island. It was midnight, the time Furies equated with noon. If anyone was around, it would be now.

And for once, they found something. Someone.

As they flew over the island that night, Svarturkló caught a scent she hadn't smelled in a long, long time. 'Myrkur...' She recognized it. 'Toothless, there's a Fury somewhere around! A Myrkur Fury!' She began searching frantically.

Hiccup stared at Svarturkló as she searched. "What's a Myrkur Fury?"

Toothless began searching the dense forest below, answering vaguely because he was fully concentrating on smelling the other dragon out. 'A Fury of the Myrkur family. One of the four families in our pack, according to mom!' He started searching more urgently.

Svarturkló found something. She got Toothless' attention and they descended to the forest floor. In a clearing was a small pile of freshly caught fish. Neither of them moved.

Hiccup wasn't sure about any of this. "Well, this is weird." He suddenly had an intense feeling that he had been in this situation before. He just didn't know when.

Svarturkló slowly approached the pile. She distinctly smelled a Fury scent around here, but the fish was making it hard to locate. She leaned over the pile, sniffing warily.

The pile exploded. Not in fire or destruction, but from within, covering Svarturkló in fish scraps and guts. She reeled back, shocked. There had been the distinct sound of a plasma blast, but no plasma blast had been seen by any of them. Then they heard laughter. From under the pile.

Hiccup figured it out right before an adolescent Night Fury popped out of a hole under where the pile had been.

'Got... you?' The slightly smaller Fury sniffed the air. 'Wait. Who are you?' The adolescent Night Fury, a female judging by the voice, clambered out of what appeared to be a shallow pit dug specifically for a dragon her size to hide in. She was staring at Svarturkló, but didn't seem to notice Hiccup or Toothless. 'You smell like a Svartur,' she paused, her eyes widening slightly, 'but you're not one I know…'

Svarturkló nodded enthusiastically, visibly brimming with joy. 'I think I can remember you! You were a hatchling-'

'And you're dead!' The other dragon interrupted. 'Well…' She seemed to reconsider that, staring at the very much alive and very happy Night Fury in front of her. ' Everyone thought you were dead, anyway. You're really her?'

'I am Svarturskuggi's mate, Svarturkló.' She spoke with utter certainty. Then something seemed to occur to her, the happy exterior wavering with caution, 'he is still..?'

The other Fury, who still hadn't even noticed Hiccup and Toothless in her fascination with Svarturkló, answered happily. 'You're good, he never even looked at other dragons for another mate.'

'I didn't think he would,' Svarturkló replied confidence returning. 'We finally found this place.' She trailed off, sighing happily.

After a moment of silence, the other Fury spoke up. 'My name's Myrkursprengja, by the way. What do you mean 'we' anyw-" That was when she finally noticed Toothless. And Hiccup. Mostly Hiccup.

Hiccup waved weakly. He was happy they had found the pack, but this was where things would get very, very awkward. He was not looking forward to this next part very much. "Hello, Myrkursprengja."

Myrkursprengja's mouth dropped open. Hiccup wasn't sure whether it was because of his very existence, the fact that he was sitting on the back of a Night Fury, the fact that he could understand her, or the fact that he waved and greeted her politely. It was probably some combination of all of the above.

They all patiently waited while Myrkursprengja regained her powers of speech. It was quite the buildup to a very anticlimactic statement. 'Cool! I was getting bored around here. You guys will shake things up.' Before any of them could respond, she continued. 'My brother is going to love this. Let me call him over. He was waiting to see if anyone would fall for our prank.' She seemed to realize that Svarturkló was still covered in miscellaneous fish chunks and winced. 'Sorry about that.' She let out a low Fury call.

Another adolescent Night Fury swooped in a few seconds later. He stared. 'Sis, I think we picked a bad night for this.' He paused. Looked at Svarturkló. 'We should have both had piles of fish! That way we could have gotten both of them.'

Hiccup was starting to get annoyed. "There are three of us." He crossed his arms.

Myrkursprengja's brother did a double-take. 'Oh.' He considered Hiccup. 'Weird pet. By the way, my name's Myrkursprenging.'

Toothless rolled his eyes. 'He's not a pet.'

Myrkursprenging didn't seem convinced. 'Then how do you explain it not killing you? Wild humans attack on sight. Or run, which is more fun to watch.'

Hiccup smiled weakly, unsure of what would be smart. Was it better to let them think of him as just a pet for the moment? It might be safer, if demeaning.

Myrkursprengja jumped backwards. 'It's snarling at me!' She sounded insulted.

'That's not a snarl.' Svarturkló cut in impatiently. 'All will be explained soon enough. For now, where do the families live?'

'There are caves at the base of the mountain.' Myrkursprenging answered absently, still staring at Hiccup curiously. 'The Svartur family is on the far side. Svarturskuggi and Svarturvon are probably both there.'

'Yeah, Svarturvon doesn't get out much.' Myrkursprengja added solemnly. 'Because Svarturskuggi is overprotective.'

'He doesn't want to lose her the way he lost…' Myrkursprenging trailed off for a moment. 'Well, you, I guess.'

Svarturkló nodded impatiently. But before she could leap back into the air, another Fury walked out of the trees, clearly surprised by the gathering it had happened across.

All was still for a moment. The new Fury had grey eyes, and was also somewhat young, not a child but not quite as large as a full-fledged adult like Svarturkló. She hadn't noticed Hiccup or even who Svarturkló or Toothless were yet, eyes focused solely on the Myrkur dragons.

Myrkursprengja laughed, sounding almost nervous for some reason. 'Hey, Nótteinfari. What a… coincidence…'

The new Fury, Nótteinfari, did not look amused. 'You both know I don't like your pranking, but I thought you were smarter than this. If Nóttreiði had been the one to fall for whatever this was, he'd teach you both a lesson…'

It was very clear the moment Nótteinfari dismissed the Myrkur siblings and turned her attention to the other dragons. Her eyes widened, then narrowed into slits as she took in Hiccup, still sitting on Toothless's back.

Hiccup was expecting an angry question or accusation, snarls, threats. He was _not_ expecting to be thrown to the side with Toothless, who jolted out of the way a second before a small plasma blast tore through the air where Hiccup's chest had been.

Svarturkló roared, an angry challenge full of authority. 'Stop!'

Everyone present froze, though Toothless was quite clearly ready to flee or attack in an instant, whichever was needed. Einfari was snarling angrily, her mouth barely illuminated with the blue glow of a built-up plasma blast.

Hiccup made a mental note. Night Furies never miss… unless their target is another Night Fury, or a human on top of one. Luckily for him.

'Why should I?" Nótteinfari asked, beginning to creep forward, lessening the distance her shot would need to travel. 'It is a human. _Here_. You brought it here. Why?' That last question was an angry shout.

'That will be explained soon enough. But for now, know that it is under my protection.' Svarturkló answered firmly. 'And it is no danger to anyone here.'

'Attack him, and you deal with me.' Toothless snarled.

A standoff developed between Toothless and Nótteinfari. Neither moved, though it was quite clear Nótteinfari was still very carefully considering whether or not she could kill Hiccup from where she stood.

A small crackling sound broke the silence. Myrkursprengja, who had moved out of sight, returned to the group. "Nótteinfari, you started a fire! Get over here and help us put it out!'

Nótteinfari growled, shaking her head angrily. 'Fine! You,' she snarled at Toothless, 'will either kill that disgusting thing yourself, or I'll do it for you after I put this stupid fire out.' She darted off into the forest, followed by Myrkursprengja.

Toothless, Hiccup, and Svarturkló looked on in confusion.

'Why did she just give up like that?' Toothless asked, voicing the question they all wanted answered.

Myrkursprenging strolled casually out of the forest, smirking. 'Rule number one. No fires in the forest. Ever. With a little help from me and my sister, that tiny blast started quite a big one.'

Svarturkló stared at him. 'Why?'

'Like we said, things get boring around here. It's no fun if Nótteinfari kills your little pet right away.' Myrkursprenging gestured impatiently with his wing. 'It won't take too long to put the fire out. Stop wasting my brilliant diversion!'

No one argued with him. The two Furies leaped into the air, fleeing the scene of the fight.

Svarturkló was having a hard time flying straight, she was so nervous and excited, though the adrenaline from the short encounter with Nótteinfari wasn't helping either. She managed to make it to the other side of the mountain without crashing in an embarrassing fashion. A few Furies were fishing in the distance, a sight that she had never thought to see again. She touched down just outside a cave entrance set into the base of the mountain, and turned to address the boys. 'You two should wait outside until I call you in. I'm going to try to break all the news slowly. And Hiccup, you should probably not ride Svarturkappi in. It might give the wrong impression. I'll call you in after him. If you two are attacked though, just come in immediately.'

Svarturkló took a deep breath. And then another. She forced herself to ignore her fear and walked into the cave. It was unfamiliar. She had never seen the inside before, for obvious reasons, but it already smelled like home. She continued into the cave and it opened up into a large cavern.

In a corner was a large Night Fury, half-asleep. She knew him. 'Svarturskuggi.'

He looked up, and his eyes widened.

She purred. 'I made it back.'

He sprang to his feet and rushed to her, stopping just short of embracing her and stared.

'What?' A thousand irrational fears rushed through her mind at that moment.

He sounded happy but slightly confused. 'Why are you covered in fish?'

She started. Oh, right. That. She tried to compose herself. 'I believe they are called Myrkursprengja and Myrkursprenging?'

He laughed. 'Right, them. I should have known. Wait, why do I care!? You're back!' Now he embraced her and nuzzled her happily. 'It's been so long. What happened?' His voice turned dark. 'Was it the work of humans? They found our last island a while ago. It wouldn't surprise me; They seem to be everywhere, and always with some new way of capturing or killing dragons.'

Svarturkló laughed nervously, and a bit sadly. 'No, it was not. It was something far, far worse. It is a long story, and one I would not believe had I not lived through it myself. But I will tell it. And I am not the main character in this story.' Svarturskuggi stared at her questioningly. 'And I was not present for most of it.' She nuzzled him. 'You know how I was with egg when I disappeared?'

Svarturskuggi's eyes widened.

Svarturkló purred softly. 'You have a son. I named him Svarturkappi.'

Svarturskuggi laughed wonderingly. Kappi. 'Warrior. A good name.' Svarturkló laughed with him.

'I thought so. I also hoped he would live up to it, and someday free both of us.' At that, her expression changed slightly. 'He did, and in an amazing way, but he had help. We both did. From the most unlikely source imaginable.' She shifted to look Svarturskuggi in the eyes. 'You need to promise me something.'

'Anything.'

'Whatever happens, don't hurt anyone on this island until the entire story has been told.' She was being careful, like her son had in telling the story to her. She remembered how her intentions had changed throughout hearing the tale of how everything happened on that sea stack. There was a point in that story where her promise had been the only thing keeping her from attacking Hiccup. And of course, she did not want her mate following Nótteinfari's example. She needed Svarturskuggi to have restraint.

'I don't know why I would, but I agree.' He was quieter now.

Svarturkló purred loudly. 'Good. Now, prepare to meet your son.' She inhaled to call Toothless.

'Who are _you_?' That hadn't been Svarturkló. It had come from outside the cave. Where Hiccup and Svarturkappi were waiting. That wasn't good…

Svarturskuggi yelled loudly. 'Svarturvon, come in here now! You need to see this!'

The female voice was on the edge of freaking out. 'But dad, there's-'

Svarturskuggi cut her off. 'I know, now get in here!' He didn't seem angry, just happy and impatient.

A female Night Fury a few years older than Toothless ran in. 'Dad, do you really know what's-' She froze. Svarturkló purred at her.

'It's been fifteen years... but I recognize that voice. Do you remember me?' Svarturkló was hopeful, but not overly so. She had been enslaved when Svarturvon was three.

'...Mom?' Svarturvon rushed to Svarturkló, and Svarturkló reunited with the last missing member of her family. 'Where have you been?' She looked up. 'And why are you covered in fish guts?'

Svarturkló sighed. 'Blame Myrkursprenging and Myrkursprengja. That's what I told your father.' Svarturkló was happy to see her daughter laugh.

'Of course. Only they would prank someone returning from the dead.' Svarturvon stared at her father for a moment. 'You really already know what's outside?' She sounded incredulous. 'Why are you so calm?'

Svarturkló had a feeling she knew who Svarturvon was referring to, and it wasn't who Svarturskuggi thought. 'I am about to explain. He is part of my explanation. A very important part. Relax.' She tried to sound calm, though she was still very nervous. She had easily been accepted, but the other two might not be. 'Svarturkappi!'

Hiccup had known this part would be nerve-wracking, but having at least one Fury already openly hostile added a new level of worry. He didn't dare access Toothless's sense of sight at the moment, but he could hear from Toothless's perspective. Svarturkló had just finished explaining everything, most of which he'd already known. It was interesting to hear that she'd originally been captured right after fighting off a Skrill. That he had not known. From what she'd said, the Skrill wasn't under the Queen's control, which was also interesting. He'd get the whole story later.

He scanned the sky, glad to see that there were no vengeful silhouettes plunging down to destroy him. He'd need to thank Myrkursprenging and Myrkursprengja for that. Nótteinfari didn't seem like the kind of dragon to forget easily, so they must still be distracting her. It was pretty clear that she had an issue with humans in general, which he could completely understand. Hopefully, this would go well enough that she'd be forced to back off.

Well, ideally he'd gain her trust, but for the moment a cease-fire would be enough.

His thoughts were interrupted by the call he'd been waiting for.

'Hiccup!'

This was it. He turned and quickly strode into the cave, going over everything he knew that might help. No weapon? Check. No smile, because it would look like a snarl in the wrong situation? Not a problem. Appear non-threatening? His whole life in a nutshell. He passed through the narrower entrance passageway.

Hiccup saw the four Furies as his eyes adjusted, somehow discerning shapes in the near total darkness. Toothless was smiling encouragingly, and Svarturkló was purring, to send a message to the other two Furies. The female Fury he assumed was Toothless's sister was staring at him. He had seen her outside when she had seen him and Toothless standing outside the cave, waiting.

Hiccup smiled at her. Then he saw Svarturskuggi, who seemed unable to decide what to do. "Hi. Nice to meet you, Svarturskuggi and Svarturvon."

That was about when Hiccup noticed the conflict within Svarturskuggi, who was clawing at the rock floor under his feet, gouging a hole through a thin layer of moss.

"Um, please don't kill me?" He asked carefully.

**_Author's Note:_ ** **Now is it apparent why this was a good chapter to delay slightly? Next one up as normal, Thusday morning, and after that one we begin the final arc of this book.**

**Also, interestingly enough, this chapter lost a few pages, an entire scene skipped, because it was a bit too much recap. I'm probably going to do a 'deleted/alternate scenes' entry at the end of this book, simply because I have a few, like this one, that aren't bad, just unneccesary.**

**Now, for a status report. In the last nine days, I took a good look at the third book in this series, _Living Freely_ , and finally got past my lack of inspiration as to the end. I trashed the majority of the last two chapters I had written, changed a few integral plot details, and, err…**

**You'll see. Some parts of that ending were hard to write, and I'm still not sure if they're too dark, even for this book, which was already darker than the first two. Not quite as bad as _IHTR_** **(and definitely not in the same league as _SS_ ), but close. However, the plot demanded it, and it helped lead directly into one of the plots of _Living Defiantly,_** **so I don't think I can get rid of it, and I don't really want to.**

 **Anyway, _Living Freely_** ' **s first draft is complete, awaiting betaing once we get through _Living Anonymously_ , and I wrote a total of six chapters to complete it.**

 **That's not the best part. The best part is that I had several concurrent brainwaves, all concerning book four (and no, I did not know there would be a book four before now, or at least had no ideas as to the plot). It will be the longest book of the four, and will deal with the last of canon in ways no one expects (HTTYD3 mostly, as I finally figured out how I wanted to handle those elements). When I say several concurrent brainwaves, I mean that it will be the longest book to date out of pure necessity. Things just _clicked_** **in a way that rarely ever happens for me, to the point when I had a fairly detailed and complex plot outline done in under half an hour.**

 **The rest of my nine day vacation's writing time was spent on what is at the moment going under the working title of _Shattered Soul_ (still looking for a better name), the sequel to _Innocent Hopes, Twisted Realities._** **Had another flash of inspiration for that one. All in all, I've written more than 80,000 words in nine days at the time of writing this on the eighth day using Google Drive's offline mode (About 27,000 of that 80,000 went to _Living Freely_ ). Yes, that is quite a bit even for me. I hope that speaks to how strongly inspiration struck. (Or how much I can do with no access to internet. Looking forward to that two week Christmas break! If I can do 80,000 words in nine days, math says that I should be able to do 125,000 words in fourteen days. That's actually doable for me, by the way, as I wrote this entire story (160,000ish words) in three weeks, with a similar pace.)**


	27. Chapter 27

Hiccup never got the chance to see what Svarturskuggi would have done, which was a relief. At the moment he had requested he not be killed, another Fury had entered the area, from an even darker tunnel on the other side of the cave. This Fury was definitely an adult, and his eyes were a light shade of grey around his black pupils. Hiccup had noticed at that moment that the eyes of both Svarturvon and Svarturskuggi were different shades of green, and he was going to guess this new Fury was not a Svartur. He recalled that Nótteinfari had had grey eyes. Was this a Nótt Fury? Something about that assumption felt wrong. If not the guess, then the reasoning behind it.

'Svarturskuggi, my daughter has seen some-' The Fury froze when he saw Hiccup. Eyes narrowed, but not entirely in anger.

Hiccup wanted to groan. Of course, Nótteinfari hadn't kept quiet. Why would he have expected it? But that look… something was off. Something he couldn't quite place.

"Is there like a council or something here? I'd kinda like to only explain all of this once." Hiccup asked quickly, addressing Svarturvon, who was both not currently hostile, and a Fury that had been living here. "It's a long story, and if we have to tell it to every family individually, we'll be here all night." Toothless translated as quickly as he could, standing between Hiccup and the grey-eyed Fury.

The new Fury blinked. He responded to Hiccup's question before Svarturvon could. 'Yes, actually. But why would you ask any of us? You can't understand us.' He straightened. 'And why is a human here at all?' He seemed to be overcoming his shock and was growing more hostile by the second. 'After everything we've gone through!'

Toothless and Svarturkló moved forward, blocking the Fury's path to Hiccup. Hiccup made eye contact with him over their protective defense. "This is why I want to explain to everyone at the same time. Yes I understand you, no I'm not hostile, no I won't tell anyone about this island. Now, about that council." He was anxious to get everyone on the same, hopefully non-hostile page as soon as possible.

Svarturkló growled warningly. 'Nóttleiðtogi, you were never one to jump to conclusions. Do not start now.'

'Svarturkló too?' Nóttleiðtogi faltered as he realized who was speaking. 'What am I missing?'

'Quite a bit. Trust that I know more than you at the moment.' Svarturkló replied. 'And it is good to see you, by the way.' She smirked at that.

'If you have an explanation…' Nóttleiðtogi took a step back. 'I will hold judgement. For now. If you think it can be trusted.' He shuddered slightly.

'I do. Thank you.' Svarturkló nodded.

Toothless must have felt that wasn't enough. 'I would and have trusted him with my life. He has taken an arrow in defense of me and stood against other humans. He has risked his life for my sake countless times and proven his unfeigned loyalty to me beyond any doubt. I trust him with all of our lives.' He curled his tail around Hiccup protectively.

Nóttleiðtogi eyed Toothless consideringly. 'I do not give my word lightly.' He growled. 'And you are unaware of just how hard it is for me to not tear that thing limb from limb right here. Tread carefully, young one.' He turned to leave. 'I will gather the others. Be ready to explain yourself, Svarturkló.'

Svarturkló turned to face Svarturskuggi the moment Nóttleiðtogi left. 'I could have used a little support.'

Svarturskuggi purred. 'You had it well in hand. Besides, I don't truly know the whole story. Just your part of it. I would be uncomfortable in giving my word that this human is safe when I don't know that myself.' The unexpected intrusion of Nóttleiðtogi had apparently given Svarturskuggi a reason to calm down, as his tone was no longer agitated.

'That is… fair.' Svarturkló conceded. 'Svarturkappi, why don't you spend the next few minutes getting to know your sister? Ask her about herself. You should get to know her too, Hiccup.' She took Svarturskuggi aside, into a small side cavern. 'There's something important I need to tell you.'

'Yes?' He seemed wary. She supposed she had hit him with a few too many surprises today. Well, what was one more?

'I want you to know that Svarturkappi considers Hiccup as a brother. I didn't like him very much at first, but I decided to let him earn my trust. He has, without even trying, just doing what he does naturally. He helped us find you here. We searched for months, and during that time I've gotten to know him. He is kind hearted, intelligent, and honest. Svarturkappi considers him a brother, and Hiccup doesn't know it, but I've started thinking of him as one of my own. I don't ask that you accept him immediately. But please, give him a chance like I did. For my sake if nothing else.'

Svarturskuggi clearly wasn't sure how to answer that. He shifted, looking back into the other cavern. Svarturvon was talking, a bit shyly. Hiccup said something, and Svarturvon shook her head. Svarturkappi intervened, saying something that was apparently very convincing. Svarturvon sighed and leaned towards Hiccup. Svarturskuggi watched in shock as Hiccup started scratching Svarturvon's nose, and she leaned in in pleasure, purring loudly. Svarturskuggi watched for a few moments, then turned back to Svarturkló. He seemed even more conflicted now. Finally, he seemed to make a decision, judging by the way he shook his head and straightened his back. 'For you, I'll try. But you know I won't easily trust a human. What if this is all a long con, and he betrays us to his tribe?'

Svarturkló sighed. 'He has no tribe. Not anymore. I was there when he outcast himself and cut himself off from his own family name. He did it voluntarily, not knowing anything about what the future would hold for him, and he did it because his tribe wouldn't accept what he had done, what he was trying to show them. They saw us kill the Queen, and they still wouldn't listen to him. So he left. He would never betray us, he has actually already had several chances. He never even considered it.' She spoke softer. 'You'll hear more about all of that in a few minutes. But he won't tell everything, only the important parts. Because some of it hurts him to even remember.'

Svarturskuggi looked back again at the main cavern. Svarturvon was more excited now, and the usual reserve she held around other dragons was gone. She was talking happily, and Hiccup and Svarturkappi both laughed at whatever it was she was saying. Svarturskuggi had never seen her so unreserved around anyone but himself around anyone but family. 'As I said, I'll try. And I'll admit, I'm curious about anyone Von isn't shy around.''

Svarturkló purred. 'That's all I ask.' She laughed. 'And you can skip the threats of horrible death if he does anything wrong, I already did that.' That memory made her frown. 'I kind of regret that. I can see now that it was totally uncalled for. He had already saved both of our lives several times by that point.'

She stepped out of the small cave, and back towards their children. Svarturskuggi followed. They both heard the tail end of the conversation.

'You did not lose to a human in a race!' Svarturvon was incredulous. Svarturskuggi could hardly believe that either if it was true.

'It was a really thick forest! And I thought I won! Besides, Hiccup is smaller, so thick forest is easier for him.' Svarturkappi sounded halfway between annoyance and laughter.

Hiccup patted him on the side. "Just take pride in the fact that the student has become the master." He was clearly joking, judging by the look on his face.

'Master?! I challenge you to a rematch!'

"Sure. The forest on this island is even thicker than that one. I'll smoke you this time!" Hiccup laughed as Toothless deflated. He obviously hadn't considered that.

Svarturskuggi interrupted. He really had to know how a human could beat a Night Fury in a race. So much so that he forgot to keep his guard up for a few moments. 'How does a human outrun a Night Fury?'

Hiccup seemed surprised at his pleasant and genuinely interested question. He shrugged. 'Svarturkappi taught me to run like you guys do so I could avoid certain people on the island we were on. It saved my life a couple of times.' His face fell as he remembered how lucky that had been. 'Apparently, I don't leave tracks when I run. We didn't know that, but it's the only reason Svarturkappi wasn't found on Berk. I would have been followed if I hadn't gotten into the habit of running everywhere.' Toothless relayed his words. Svarturskuggi seemed a bit confused by something, but he shook it off.

'I had no idea a human could learn to run like that.' Svarturskuggi frowned. 'Actually, I didn't think humans could run very well at all. They don't seem to understand anything but fighting and killing.'

Hiccup laughed, not at all offended. "Yup, Vikings don't believe in any form of self-preservation besides fighting. Running or hiding doesn't even occur to them."

Svarturskuggi seemed confused by the way Hiccup referred to Vikings as a separate group. 'Are you not a Viking?'

Hiccup frowned. "Got it in one. Never really was, and don't want to be." He looked at Svarturkappi. "I figured out that I was pretty much the opposite of a Viking in every way. Svarturkappi helped me realize that that wasn't a bad thing."

Svarturvon purred inquisitively. 'What are you then?' She looked a bit guilty as Hiccup smiled sadly.

"I don't really know. I just know what I'm not. There hasn't ever been a human quite like me, as far as I know."

There was silence. Svarturkló warbled after a few moments, intervening before things could become awkward. 'I think it's been long enough. We should probably go to the meeting spot. Svarturskuggi, where will we stand, if we're addressing everyone?'

'The cavern is a large, open tube going up into the mountain. The families sit on ledges on the inside of the tube. There's a kind of pillar on the center of the tube, that goes about halfway up. We smoothed the tip off, so now Furies addressing everyone stand there. That way we can all see them.' Svarturskuggi frowned. 'You'll have to carry him up, I assume?' He was looking at Hiccup.

Hiccup shrugged. "I kinda need to be on Toothless if he's gonna get up there anyway." He looked uncomfortable admitting that.

Svarturskuggi didn't press the matter. He led the group through the caves that were part of the Svartur family's section of the cave system. There were quite a few that weren't used. They made it to the central cavern in a few minutes. He left Svarturkló and Svarturkappi, as he and Svarturvon flew up to sit on a ledge with a good view. This wasn't their story to tell.

Hiccup stared in wonder and a little bit of fear. There were more than a dozen Night Furies lining various ledges around the large vertical tube. He, Svarturkló and Svarturkappi flew up to the pillar in the center of the tube and landed on the smoothed top. He immediately dismounted. No need to antagonize anyone by sitting on Toothless. Besides, there was probably no way they would get out of there if the Furies didn't want them to, whether or not he was in the saddle.

For Hiccup, this might literally be do or die. He looked at the various Furies. Myrkursprengja and Myrkursprenging were sitting on a ledge with several other yellow-eyed Furies. There was another group of Furies on a different side, who had pale red eyes. They seemed the calmest, and least hostile. And then there were a few Furies with grey eyes. They were all glaring at him. He assumed Nótteinfari and Nóttleiðtogi were among them.

Svarturkló stepped forward and addressed the assembled Furies in a calm but forceful tone Hiccup had never heard before. 'Hello. I don't know how many of you remember me. I am Svarturkló, and I was lost to you about fifteen years ago. We have finally found you again and are here to tell the entire story of what happened to everyone at once.' She nodded at Hiccup. 'There are things that need to be explained, and it is better for everyone to hear at once.'

There was a feeling of formality, of consequence in the air. This was important. Hiccup was very glad that Svarturkló had given him and Toothless an introductory statement to begin their story with as they walked through the cave. He hadn't understood why she thought it necessary at the time.

Svarturkappi stepped up beside her. 'It isn't always the nicest story. No one is perfect. We ask that you withhold judgment until we have all spoken.' He nodded to Hiccup.

Hiccup stepped forward. "And he does mean all three of us. For reasons that will be explained, I can understand all of you. I will just say now that I mean no one here any harm whatsoever. I will tell part of this story, but chronologically it starts with Svarturkló." Toothless repeated his words to the assembled Furies, and then they both took a step back.

Svarturkló spoke. She told her part of the story, repeating what she had told Svarturskuggi and Svarturvon. However, this time she went into more detail about what the Queen had done. The raids, the enslavement. She also explained what the Queen had taught her and Svarturkappi to do, to be able to see through the senses of smaller less intelligent creatures. This little revelation caused something of an uproar among the red-eyed furies. They seemed to be discussing this among themselves quite avidly.

'Would you please hold all questions until the end? We have barely begun yet.' Svarturkló was a bit annoyed.

One of the older red-eyed Furies responded. 'Our apologies. We were just discussing possible connections between this apparently dormant ability and-' Another red-eyed fury nudged him. 'Sorry. Please continue.'

Svarturkló continued, bringing her part in events all the way up to her capture by the Vikings of Berk. She then stepped back, motioning to Svarturkappi.

Svarturkappi and Hiccup stepped forward. They told their part of the story jointly, Svarturkappi echoing Hiccup's statements, while making it clear he was translating, not speaking for him. They only told the essentials but were sure to stress how unlike the Vikings Hiccup was. They were also sure to emphasize how much he regretted injuring Svarturkappi. They talked jointly until they reached the point of separation by the Nightmare, when Svarturkló was struck by lightning and Toothless was recaptured by the queen. Then Toothless talked alone, explaining shortly the events after he had been taken, up until the Queen was trying to figure out how to fly using him.

Svarturkló stepped back up, and she and Hiccup told their part. Svarturkappi moved forward to join them once they had reached the point of freeing him. The three together told of the Queen's defeat and events after. They briefly spoke of the search, mentioning important moments. Svarturkló made sure to mention all of the moments that she felt displayed Hiccup's trustworthiness.

The last thing they spoke about was the event with the Changewing. Svarturkló told this story alone. She made sure to imply strongly enough where her rage stemmed from to get the message to all of the other mother Furies in the cave. She was pretty sure they'd understand.

With that, they were finally done. It had taken quite a while, though judging the passage of time in a cave was somewhat difficult.

Hiccup had spent most of the time he wasn't talking trying to get a sense of how the other Furies were taking it. Svarturskuggi had been quite mad at one point, but now he seemed calm and thoughtful. The red-eyed Furies had at no point been enraged by the story, though they seemed interested in more of an intellectual way than anything else. The Myrkur Furies seemed enraptured mostly by the dangers and adventures they had had. The group that worried Hiccup was the grey-eyed Furies. They had been angry at one point and had only calmed a little through the rest of the story. However, one of those he hadn't yet met seemed much less hostile than the others.

Hiccup was very nervous when he saw the less hostile grey-eyed Fury prepare to fly, as less hostile did not necessarily mean friendly. He nudged Svarturkló with his elbow and indicated where he was looking. She saw the Fury, who was now approaching and purred reassuringly.

'Nóttskarpur, how are you?' Svarturkló greeted the Fury warmly. She moved aside to let the Fury land on the platform.

'Good, and better now that you are back! And I would hope we are still friends.' Nóttskarpur warbled curiously. Hiccup had not been expecting such a cheery voice from the female Fury, given the unhappy disposition of the rest of her family.

'Oh, we are.' Svarturkló purred loudly. 'I am trying to greet everyone by their full names for the benefit of these two.' She nodded at Toothless and Hiccup. 'It would be improper for them to call you Skarpur, as your friends do, so they must know your full name.'

Nóttskarpur looked at Hiccup. 'Is everything you said true?' Hiccup saw Svarturkló nod. Nóttskarpur continued in a lower voice. 'And everything you implied?' Hiccup wasn't sure what that meant, but Svarturkló nodded again. 'Then I will convince my family to support you. That is if I guess your intentions correctly?' Svarturkló laughed.

'Even after fifteen years, you can still read my mind. Will you also talk to Eldurský and Myrkurhryðjuverk? I think they understood, but it would be nice to make sure.'

Hiccup felt dizzy. All of these names were going to give him a headache, and the fact that everyone apparently had several was not a promising sign. He really hoped that last one was as complicated as they got. The hidden meaning he didn't get in the conversation wasn't helping either.

Nóttskarpur nodded and flew back to her family. Hiccup could see a heated debate was taking place. Apparently, Nóttskarpur won, judging by her face. Then she flew over to the red-eyed Furies, which Hiccup guessed must be the Eldur family, by process of elimination. The grey-eyed Furies were the Nótt Furies, and he already knew the yellow and green-eyed Furies family names. Svartur, Myrkur, Nótt, Eldur. Green, yellow, grey, and red, respectively. He would have to remember that. It helped that Furies within a family all had different hues of their family's color. It made them all quite distinct. That was good because apart from size, that seemed to Hiccup to be the only distinct thing about them. They were all more or less the same hue of black. He just hoped he'd eventually be able to recognize various Furies without having to look at their eyes.

Hiccup watched as Nóttskarpur made her way around to the Myrkur family, and talked to one specific dragon there. He was amused to see the dragon turn to their assembled family, and proceed to get them all riled up. Hiccup didn't know what was being said, but the antics of the three smaller dragons, and oddly enough one of the larger ones, implied that it wasn't a bad kind of riled up. They seemed happy and excited.

'What is she doing?' Toothless was also watching Nóttskarpur.

'Gathering support.' Svarturkló seemed relaxed. Apparently, she trusted what appeared to be an old friend. 'I'll make my proposition to the pack in a minute, once she's done.'

Hiccup didn't know what was going on, but Svarturkló seemed relaxed, so he tried to follow her lead.

'Actually, you two can go sit with Svarturvon. And tell Svarturskuggi I asked him to come up here.' Svarturkló made eye contact with Toothless. 'It'll be fine. Go.'

Toothless flew himself and Hiccup down to the ledge Svarturvon was sitting on and relayed the message to Svarturskuggi, who promptly flew off, after giving them both a considering look.

Hiccup and the two dragons with him on the ledge watched as the families all settled down and returned their attention to the two Furies on the pillar. Svarturkló asked Svarturskuggi something, and he nodded. She turned to address the audience, which now included Hiccup and Toothless.

'You have heard our story. Now that you are informed, I have a question to put forth.' Svarturkló was speaking formally. 'I and my son would like to return and live as part of the pack once more. As blood relatives to a pack member, that is our right. However, I would not separate my son and the one he considers a brother. I know he is a human, but Hiccup has proven many times over his position in regards to dragons and, as a result, has nowhere else to go. So the question I propose is this. Would the pack allow Hiccup to become a member of the Svartur family? Could he be a full member of the pack?' Svarturkló stopped speaking. She seemed to be waiting for something.

Svarturvon whispered to Toothless and Hiccup. 'She's proposed a vote. She made the proposition, so our family can't vote. One vote per family. It has to be unanimous between the three families, but not within each family. They all handle how they vote differently. The Eldur all give their opinion and majority rules. With the Myrkur, whoever cares the most gets the rest to agree, and they vote that way. The Nótt generally debate it, and somehow they all end up agreeing. And we just talk it out. It was easy because there were only two of us.'

A representative from each of the three other families flew out from the ledges and hovered in front of their respective sides. The representative from the Eldur spoke first.

'We judge individuals based on their actions. Hiccup's actions by the large show that he is trustworthy. We vote to allow this.' He remained there.

Then the representative from the Myrkur spoke. 'We have reached the conclusion', the representative didn't seem particularly proud of what he was about to say, 'that things would be, and I quote, "more fun around here" if we let the undeniably harmless human stay. We vote to allow this.'

Now the representative from the Nótt was the only one left, and it was Nóttleiðtogi. 'I personally doubt the existence of a harmless human. But my family sees this as a slippery slope. If we allow one human, what will be next? Will he want a mate? And so on and so forth?' Here he paused. 'However, that might not be a bad thing. Assuming the human is trustworthy. We Furies are few in number. I,' and there was emphasis on that, with a glance back at two of the grey-eyed Furies, 'vote to allow this, on one condition. If the human breaks our trust or does anything to harm this island, he dies. However, if he does nothing to disprove his apparent trustworthiness, we will allow him, if he ever finds more humans of similar caliber, to propose they also be made members of the pack. We would vote on it, as we are now. In this way, we establish a procedure for the increasing of our pack by human induction.' The Fury was silent for a moment. 'This is the decision of my family. We vote to allow it if all families agree to our condition.'

Hiccup was astonished. Nóttleiðtogi had wanted to kill him! But now they were adding a way for him to introduce other humans in the future? He sensed this might have been part of whatever Svarturkló and Nóttskarpur were talking about. But Svarturkló looked surprised too. Hiccup looked over at the Nótt Furies. A few of them were still glaring at him. He sensed that these few believed he would break their trust. In their case, they probably agreed to the condition because of the first part. Death for a betrayal of any kind. Hiccup was good with that. He wouldn't even consider such a thing, so it was an empty threat.

The other two representatives looked at their families. They spoke almost in unison. 'Agreed. We accept the condition proposed by the Nótt family.' That too had the feel of a formal agreement, given that they said it in the same exact words.

Svarturkló smiled, a gesture that confused all of the other Furies. 'Then it has been agreed. Hiccup is a member of the pack, under the Svartur family.' She seemed relieved. 'It is getting late.' Hiccup supposed that meant early, given that it was the middle of the night. 'Would you be able to ask any questions you might have of us tomorrow? We have been traveling for the last three months and could use some time to rest.' She listened as the pack mumbled its agreement. Most of them had questions, but they begrudgingly accepted her request. She swept down off of the pillar, followed by Svarturskuggi.

Hiccup was happy to jump on Toothless and be taken off of the ledge, and back toward the Svartur section of the caves. The last few hours felt unreal, probably due to the strangeness of it all. Maybe it would sink in later.

At the moment though, they needed to navigate through the swarm of dragons taking flight and circling around the spire, moving like bats in the dark. It really shouldn't have been a surprise when that didn't go well.

Something brushed past Hiccup's hair, and a blood-curdling snarl was heard. Toothless dropped even as several grey-eyed Furies all slammed into the attacker. If Toothless hadn't moved erratically right before that moment, the attacker would have hit Hiccup full-on.

Hiccup watched, entirely confused, as the three grey-eyed Furies restrained a fourth, the one he thought had been the attacker. He knew all three of the restraining Furies by name, all of the Nótt family he had encountered previously. Nóttleiðtogi, Nóttskarpur, and even Nótteinfari.

'What just happened?' Toothless frantically asked no one in particular. 'He's supposed to be safe now!' The irony of that statement was not lost on Hiccup. Supposed to be safe for both parties. He wasn't the one who was breaking that.

Svarturvon growled in the direction of the commotion. 'Nóttreiði. He's hot headed, and hates humans more than anyone here, for some reason.'

'I find that hard to believe.' Hiccup muttered. He watched as the four landed on a ledge and one broke away, leaving the other two to scold the recalcitrant one.

'Svartur…' Nótteinfari winced. 'Kappi, right?'

'Yes.' Toothless said coldly, circling around the spire, flying in time with the other Fury. 'Here to try again?'

'No.' Nótteinfari rumbled angrily. 'I can control myself and actually know how to fight, unlike my brother. We'll be ready to take revenge if he betrays us, but not before.'

"Thank you." Hiccup laughed at the incredulous tone Toothless gave that translation.

Nótteinfari stared at him, addressing him directly for the first time. 'What in the world for?'

"For saying 'if', and not 'when'. For giving me a chance." Hiccup replied.

Nótteinfari faltered midair before Toothless even finished talking. 'Not what I was doing.' She seemed distracted. 'Also, why do you do that?' This was directed at Toothless.

'Do what?' Toothless asked, confused.

'...Nevermind.' Nótteinfari dropped away, joining her family as they left.

"That was odd." Hiccup remarked as they followed suit.

The four Svartur Furies and Hiccup gathered in the cavern they had originally met in. Svarturskuggi and Svarturkló went out to bring back fish for them all. Toothless had immediately shut Hiccup down when he suggested they help, so Hiccup got the idea that was meant to be private time for the two. Knowing that, he wasn't surprised when they came back almost an hour later, laden with fish.

Hiccup had to explain to a confused Svarturskuggi and Svarturvon that humans didn't eat fish raw, as the watched Toothless flash cook his food for him. The first few minutes were silent, but eventually Hiccup spoke up.

"So is all of that… normal?" He asked carefully.

'What parts?' Svarturkló asked. 'Furies going against the decision of the group definitely isn't. Nóttreiði is very likely in a lot of trouble with his family. You don't have to worry about it.'

"That's good to know, but it's not what I was thinking about." Hiccup looked around. "Do dragons usually gather in big groups like this?"

'That depends on the species. For us, it's not at all normal. Furies normally live alone, or with only immediate family.' That was interesting. 'Nadders group up in packs, Nightmares are solitary, and so on.'

"What about all of that in the cave?" Hiccup asked, now truly interested. "Do you guys even have a leader? An alpha, I guess?"

'No.' Svarturskuggi growled. 'For good reason. We are not at all typical in many ways. But the reasons behind that are a very long story.'

'Save that for some other time.' Svarturkló agreed. 'I have a feeling the travelers among us aren't awake and alert enough to follow along at the moment.'

After that, the conversation died. Svarturkló was correct in her assessment of their energy levels. Fatigue had set in.

Hiccup abruptly realized that it wasn't dark in the cave. He had good vision, but he shouldn't have been able to see when there was no light at all. So where was this light coming from?

He noticed after a moment of searching that the cave didn't really have a stone floor in most places. There was a sort of pale green moss growing on the stone floor, quite thick in some places. He couldn't really be certain, because the light seemed evenly distributed, but he guessed that the moss was its source. That was something he was going to have to look into later.

There were a lot of things he was going to have to do. A lot of things he wanted to do. Explore the island, explore the caves, get to know and get on at least neutral terms with all of the other Furies, especially Toothless's sister and father, and on and on. The full list would take him years to complete. He smiled, looking at the four Furies in the cave with him. He wouldn't mind spending years here. He was pretty sure this cave would soon feel like home. Possibly hostile neighbors notwithstanding.

After the Furies had gone to sleep, Hiccup sat awake in the cave entrance. He was tired but in that odd way that ruled out sleep. Physically exhausted, but mentally awake. He smiled as he felt a Fury sit next to him. Without even looking, he could tell it was Svarturkló. The similarities between this and another night were too perfect for it not to be. "What's on your mind?"

Svarturkló turned to face Hiccup. 'You. More specifically, something you said once. And something I said once. First, I want to apologize for threatening you, when I allowed you to come with us after the Queen was killed.'

Hiccup laughed softly. "I don't mind that. It was your way of making sure I stayed in line."

Svarturkló purred. 'But I still regret it. The other thing I want to talk about is far more personal. And I want you to understand that you can refuse, and I won't be hurt, or think any less of you. I haven't told anyone but Svarturskuggi about this, and he agreed to trust my judgment.'

Hiccup wasn't sure what to make of that. "What is it?"

Svarturkló spoke softly, and with great feeling. 'There aren't many Night Furies, so this doesn't happen often. But if a hatchling's parents die, another family can adopt them. It's rare, but it does happen. You are already a ward of our family. Would you be okay with us adopting you? Svarturkappi sees you as a brother, and I have come to see you as a son. In time, the same will happen with Svarturskuggi and Svarturvon. In fact, I think it will be even easier for them, because they're going to already be getting used to having another son or brother anyway.'

Hiccup was speechless. But he knew what his answer would be. "Yes. I already considered both of you family, this just makes it official. I didn't know you thought of me as a son, though."

Svarturkló purred softly. 'It was a gradual change, so gradual I didn't even notice, but I figured it out after the incident with the Changewing. That was a mother's rage. When I told that story today, I made sure the other mothers in the audience understood. That kind of thing isn't half-hearted, and it can't be faked. Nóttskarpur understood, and she got the other mothers to support us taking you into the pack.' She was silent for a few moments. 'One more thing. You said that names should be given. I don't intend to replace your mother, but would you like me to give you another name? One like ours. I know what it would be.'

Hiccup liked that idea more than he could express. He was touched that Svarturkló wanted to give him a name. "Of course. My mother wouldn't have minded, she didn't get to really name me anyway."

Svarturkló moved closer. They sat there, staring out at the sky. It was starting to brighten minutely. She waited until the sunrise could be seen, just starting. 'Svarturflugmaður. Flugmaður means 'flyer'. Because that's what you are. With my son, you don't ride, because you are part of the flight. You fly. So you are a flyer.'

Hiccup tested the sound of it. "Svarturflugmaður. Flyer. Wait, what does Svartur mean?'

Svarturkló chuckled softly. 'It just means 'black'. None of the family names are very original. Myrkur means 'dark', Eldur means 'fire', and Nótt means 'night'.'

Hiccup considered that. "So my full name means black flyer. Svarturflugmaður. I love it. Thank you, Svarturkló.'

Svarturkló laughed again. 'That's another thing. Family members call each other just by the specific name, or a nickname, even when talking to those outside the family. The speaker decides on how they want to refer to their family. So if you talked to someone about my son, you might call him Kappi. Or you might call him some completely unrelated name. I think you've already figured out what you're going to call my son.' She said this in a lighthearted tone.

Hiccup smiled. "I will always refer to him as 'Toothless'. As for you... I like Kló. Would you mind if I called you Cloey?" It was a play on the sounds of her name, a simple addition of the 'y' sound to what already existed in order to create something similar to a name a human might have. It felt right, somehow, and less formal.

Svarturkló smiled at that. 'I like it. Feel free to call me that. You could also call me 'mom' if you feel comfortable with that. But I understand if you don't. Cloey is good either way.'

They sat there and watched the sunrise. Hiccup and Svarturkló. Or now, Svarturflugmaður and Cloey. Hiccup figured it would take him a while to start thinking of himself as Svarturflugmaður. He wondered if Toothless would come up with a nickname for him. He just hoped that Toothless wouldn't want to keep calling him Hiccup. That name could waste away and be forgotten. He had a better one now. One given to him not by tradition, but by someone who cared. By his family.

**_Author's Note:_ ** **And thus we end the third arc. In case anyone is wondering, Kló is actually pronounced such that Cloey is very close in sound. This is why I held off on giving her a permanent nickname to make writing and reading her name less annoying. I promise now, all important Furies will have shorter nicknames eventually (and Hiccup too, actually). Anyway, can anyone guess what the next chapter will be about?**

**Also, just to put it here, though this information is scattered throughout the story too. Names are a flexible, complex concept for Night Furies specifically. (Why Night Furies specifically is not important at the moment.) In short, the name given at birth (or in this case adoption) is both the one used formally, and the one used by everyone. If someone has just met someone new, both Furies would introduce themselves by these names. Short names, not nicknames so much as alternative names entirely, are given and used by friends or family. Friends must be given permission to use any short name or alternate name (it's not a hard and strict rule so much as a courtesy), but family comes with that right built in.**

**Why all of this craziness? Writing reasons aside, there is an explanation, but we will not get to it for a very, very long time. Until that distant day, suffice to say this is how it has always been done, at least from the perspectives of everyone we've met, and no one questions it. The same goes for the names in what we might recognize as Icelandic. Other oddities and formalities remarked upon in this chapter are a bit more recent, and will be explained in the not-so-distant future.**


	28. Chapter 28

**_Author's Note:_ ** **Well, uh, yeah. The third arc isn't done yet, it seems. I'm as surprised as you are. We're taking a little detour, the scenic route, in order to rectify something my beta quite rightfully pointed out in a future chapter. Massive thanks to Fizzlemcschnizzle for flat-out telling me that chapter thirty felt like it was rushed lower quality work. Quite possibly the most beneficial thing he has pointed out yet. Chapter thirty has been split, trashed, and rewritten, resulting in the next three or four chapters you all will see. (And no, chapter thirty is not going in deleted/alternate scenes, as it was far too long and of low quality. It is all redone better here anyway.)**

**Another note, one I really should have seen coming. There seems to be some confusion as to the name Svarturflugmaður, specifically as to the letter 'ð'. This is entirely understandable. The letter ð actually has an equivalent in English, and can be replaced by 'th'. In pronunciation, note that it is the 'th' sound present in 'clothes', not the one in 'this'. There's actually a separate letter for that too, 'þ'.**

**So, Hiccup's new name is Svar-tur-flug-math-ur, to roughly sound it out. Of course, that's not his only name, or won't be for long. Toothless will probably object to such a long name, even if it is a nice one.**

Hiccup woke to the glow of the sun. Something felt wrong about that. He looked up, his eyes still heavy, and saw a warm glow coming from the narrow passage connecting the cave to the outside.

Why did something feel wrong? He rolled over, noting with a small start of surprise that the events he had half assumed a dream were quite clearly not so imaginary. Toothless was next to him, a wing extended out of habit to provide cover, and Hiccup could see Svarturkló in a corner… snuggled up with another Fury. Svarturskuggi.

Not a dream. Reality. He really wasn't used to reality being better than a pleasant dream.

So, if this was reality, that wasn't Svarturkló over there, it was Cloey. She had liked that nickname he had given her, so he would use it. That was the custom, and as the saying went, when in Rome…

Although the creator of that particular saying probably hadn't been aware Romans used poisonous metal for piping. Maybe then they wouldn't have been so ready to copy the Romans.

Hiccup decided he too could use a new name. His old name wouldn't fly among the Furies, so being an adopted son of Cloey and Svarturskuggi, they named him Svarturflugmaður. It would take time to start thinking of himself as such, but that was fine.

When in Rome… Svarturflugmaður recalled that the Night Furies here stuck to a nocturnal schedule. Given that he still felt wiped out, he did not mind trying to stick to that at all. It was very clearly day at the moment, so he could just go back to sleep.

That was not at all a bad way to start his new life. Sleeping in.

Actually waking up and beginning the night was a quiet affair. Toothless had nudged him awake when everyone else began getting up. There was no Night Fury alarm like the one Toothless had demonstrated on the sea stack months ago, and while Cloey and Svarturskuggi were awake, they were quiet.

"Not exactly morning people, are they bud? Well, night people. You know what I mean." That inversion of sayings was going to take some getting used to.

'I do,' Toothless answered. 'So, what do you think of this place?' He looked around.

"The cave?" Hiccup, or Svarturflugmaður as he remembered to call himself, asked slyly. "Rocky, surprisingly soft moss…"

'No, the island.' Toothless looked over at the exit. 'I want to explore.'

"I'm with you on that." Svarturflugmaður stood. "Maybe food first?"

'Yes, food.' Toothless glanced over at Svarturskuggi. 'Hey, uh…' He seemed to be struggling with something. '...Svarturskuggi?' He finished abruptly.

'Yes?' Svarturskuggi glanced over with a bemused expression on his face.

'Is there anything we should know about fishing or how meals work?' It was a good question.

Svarturskuggi rumbled consideringly. 'Yes, actually. Von and I usually alternate bringing food back, but now that there are more of us-'

'We've got it.' Toothless practically dragged Svarturflugmaður out of the cave in his enthusiasm.

"Woah!" Svarturflugmaður skidded to a stop just outside the cave. "What's got into you?" Toothless was still almost vibrating in excitement, casting furtive glances towards the ocean, which really meant looking in any direction but back towards the cave.

'Sorry Hiccup, I…' Toothless grimaced. 'I want to make a good impression and this seemed like a good way. He's my father, can you blame me?'

"No…" He trailed off as he understood. That was a feeling that he knew far too well. He also knew that it wasn't exactly the best feeling, all in all. "Okay, I get it. It's a good idea. But you should calm down...a little," Svarturflugmaður finished with a smile. "Let's go."

About half an hour later, Toothless and the newly named Svarturflugmaður returned, laden with fish. Svarturflugmaður in particular was weighed down with a sharpened stick, upon which many fish were speared, a way to transport enough to feed four Night Furies in one trip. They entered the cave to find Cloey and Svarturvon talking quietly, Svarturskuggi watching with interest.

'Fish for four and a half,' Toothless declared proudly.

"I resent that." Svarturflugmaður gestured to himself. "I eat way less than you do. It should be 'fish for four and a tenth.' If I ate half of what you did every day, I'd be too heavy for you to carry." Light banter came easily, but the mood of the cave was solemn. Nevertheless, Svarturskuggi purred softly in amusement.

Cloey glanced over at them before continuing with whatever she was saying to Svarturvon. Svarturflugmaður decided it was probably a private conversation, and tried not to eavesdrop.

That became hard not a moment later when Svarturvon visibly wilted. Cloey seemed concerned, as if that had not been the reaction she was expecting.

'You didn't even ask me first.' That was louder than the rest of the conversation, and everyone in the cave heard it clearly. Svarturvon quickly left, averting everyone's inquiring stare.

'What was that about?' Toothless appeared confused, looking from Cloey to the cave exit.

'She did not take it very well.' Cloey didn't meet Toothless's eyes. 'I had hoped…'

Now it made sense. "Uh, Cloey…" Svarturflugmaður began, "I had kind of assumed you'd wait a while before telling everyone." The adoption had been nice, but somehow he hadn't thought it would go into effect immediately, given half of the family he was being adopted into barely knew him.

'You did?' Cloey looked at Svarturskuggi, who shrugged. She moaned softly. 'I guess I didn't really think about that.'

'It is understandable,' Svarturskuggi said neutrally, 'given you have already accepted him. I have agreed to give him a chance, so it does not bother me. Von, on the other hand… you did not ask her first?' He seemed genuinely surprised. 'I was under the impression you had.'

Cloey shook her head. 'I did not, though I see I should have.'

That was not at all what Svarturflugmaður wanted to hear. "Well, it's a little late now…" He would just have to win Svarturvon over. This just made that a little harder.

'What are we talking about?' Toothless was no longer content to listen in confusion. 'Someone explain.'

Now Svarturflugmaður was really surprised. "You didn't tell him either?"

Cloey whined in embarrassment. 'I was going to!' She met Toothless's eyes. 'Skuggi and I have adopted Hiccup, and I have given him the name Svarturflugmaður, which he accepted.'

Toothless's eyes went wide. 'So…' He looked over at Svarturflugmaður. 'My best friend is adopted into my family by my mother and father…'

"Yes…" Svarturflugmaður was worried by Toothless's flat tone. It was impossible to tell what Toothless thought of that.

'...and I'm the last one in the family to know?' There was a hint of surprise there.

'I think it is safe to say your mother might go about things differently if given the chance to do them over.' Svarturskuggi dryly remarked. Cloey nodded emphatically.

'Well…' Toothless paused. 'I mean, I definitely don't mind, this just makes how I already thought of him official," and at that Svarturflugmaður's admittedly baseless worries lifted, 'but why didn't you think to ask?'

'Generally, it is the choice of the parents,' Svarturskuggi explained, 'though it is clear that this was a special case.'

'And now I have hurt Von.' Cloey shook her head sadly. 'I was stupid, thinking she would be fine with this so soon.'

"Hey, it's not unfixable." Svarturflugmaður turned to the exit. "I'll go-"

'Brother,' Toothless said quickly, 'let me go. I don't think you're the problem, and you talking to her first might not help.'

"Okay, I trust you." Svarturflugmaður smiled. "Brother."

'Strange, really, hearing that and knowing that it's official.' Toothless tilted his head. 'Svarturflugmaður? Black Flier? It's a good name… if long.' A thoughtful expression passed across Toothless's face.

"Better than Hiccup," Svarturflugmaður asserted quickly.

'Yes, but…' Toothless shook his head. 'Later. Right now,' he turned to Svarturskuggi, 'is there anywhere Svarturvon likes to go?'

'There is a pond at the base of the mountain, you can't miss it if you fly close.' Svarturskuggi's eyes narrowed. 'If you intend to scold her, you may as well forget it.'

'I'm not that stupid,' Toothless complained before realizing who he was talking to. 'Uh, I mean… I'd better go catch up to her!' With that, he darted out of the cave.

Svarturskuggi blinked, confused. 'Is he always like that?'

Cloey shook her head. 'No, not usually. Tonight has been different, and I don't really know why.'

Svarturflugmaður was faced with a dilemma as the two Furies discussed Toothless's behavior. He sat out of the way, trying to figure out what was right.

Should he tell Svarturskuggi Toothless was trying to impress him and had no real clue as to how to go about that, which made him act skittish and strange? Or would that be betraying his brother's trust?

Well, at the moment Toothless was interfering on Svarturflugmaður's behalf… Surely this was something similar. Fair was fair.

"Svarturskuggi," Svarturflugmaður interjected, drawing the attention of both dragons, "I think Toothless isn't really sure how to gain your approval." A slightly different wording.

'Really?' Svarturskuggi responded immediately, to Svarturflugmaður's surprise. 'Why?'

Cloey snorted. 'Because you're the mythical father he grew up wondering about?' She grinned sheepishly. 'The one I might have described every once in a while? The queen did not permit us to talk about the outside world, but that didn't cover hypotheticals. I'm sure he's made the connection by now.'

Svarturskuggi laughed, a deep rumbling sound that shook his body. 'I'm sure he must have quite the exaggerated picture in his mind by now, in that case. You are quite generous in your assessments of me.' He shook his head. 'He must think me all-knowing and wise, as well as strong and powerful.'

Cloey must have caught some hidden reference Svarturflugmaður was not privy to, because that simple statement made her whine in embarrassment. 'How do you still remember that?!'

'When one's mate compliments one so highly… and then disappears later on… that is what convinced me you did not just leave voluntarily, or find another, better mate.' Svarturskuggi nuzzled Cloey. 'How could I forget?'

Svarturflugmaður began to wonder if he should give them some privacy.

Svarturskuggi turned his attention back to Svarturflugmaður. 'But that is not true. I am as flawed as any, weaker than many.'

'Still wise beyond your years,' Cloey argued.

'And how would we know that?' Svarturskuggi stretched, rising from his seated position. 'We do not have a good example old age to draw a comparison to. Myrkureyðileggingu may be old, but no one sane calls him wise.'

'He is a Myrkur, no one calls them wise at all, age notwithstanding.' Cloey laughed, her tone light. 'And Eldurs are knowledgeable, but that is not the same thing.'

'Togi, maybe.' Svarturskuggi seemed to be considering it. 'He is smarter than me.'

'At some things.' Cloey's voice became sharper. 'You are more tolerant,' she deliberately glanced at Svarturflugmaður, 'for one thing. One of many things.'

'True. But you and I both know this particular case is not a fair judge of his character.' Svarturskuggi sighed. 'He has his reasons. You remember.'

'Like yesterday.' Cloey shivered. 'But what are you going to do about your son?'

"What? Oh, right.' Svarturskuggi walked over to Svarturflugmaður and after a moment of hesitation lightly bumped him with his snout. 'Thank you for explaining.'

'Not the son I meant,' Cloey remarked, though there was satisfaction and surprise in her voice.

Svarturflugmaður was a bit shocked. Cloey had taken months to get to a point where she voluntarily touched him, trusted him that much. Maybe it was Svarturskuggi's personality, or where they were, or simply because his mate vouched for Svarturflugmaður, but it was still surprising.

That brought to mind exactly what Svarturskuggi had done for him. He had said earlier that he had agreed to give Svarturflugmaður a chance, but this was well beyond that. This was…

The only equivalent Svarturflugmaður could think of was if he had introduced Toothless to Stoick, and Stoick had accepted him with open arms. Inconceivable.

Or the way he wished things could have been? Svarturskuggi was beginning to look like how Svarturflugmaður wished Stoick had been. Tolerant, understanding, subtle instead of brash.

That thought struck a chord. 'Svarturskuggi, thank you.' Svarturflugmaður impulsively leaped up and hugged Svarturskuggi.

Svarturskuggi did not flinch, but he did bark in shock, causing Svarturflugmaður to let go and back away a bit. After a moment, Svarturskuggi warbled curiously. 'I assume that was not an attack?'

Svarturflugmaður realized how what he had done could be interpreted. He blushed. "No, not at all! It's a gesture of thanks, not aggressive at all!" At least, not when he did it. Some Viking hugs would probably kill smaller dragons, and suffocating the enemy was not unheard of in tales of battle.

Cloey snorted. 'Then be thankful Skuggi does not react quickly.'

'I react quickly enough!' Skuggi shot back at her. 'But yes, that was a dangerous thing to do. Next time I will be less surprised.' That was said consolingly.

"At least there might be a next time," Svarturflugmaður noted. "Really, thank you. For everything."

'You are welcome. I believe I made the right decision.' Svarturskuggi inclined his head.

With that little incident over, Svarturflugmaður tried to return to his previous train of thought. There was something else, something surprising...After a moment he had it.

"Svarturskuggi, you understand me?" Svarturflugmaður had noted that Svarturskuggi did not wait for Cloey to translate earlier.

'Well, I have spent time around humans, many years ago. All of my generation here has. But I did not think I did, and I truly had not thought about it, simply taking your speaking in a way I know for granted.' He shook his head. 'Odd. I suppose that must be it. Your language, when one understands, certainly is unique.' That seemed to be all he was willing to say.

'Don't forget, you need to talk to Kappi.' Cloey reminded Svarturskuggi as she stood, her wings flaring out in a stretch, barely missing a wall. 'Are you doing anything tonight?'

'I have cave duty tonight,' Svarturskuggi admitted with a growl. 'We are expanding the Eldur section. It is slow, boring work.'

'Perfect.' Cloey purred. 'Bring your son with you. That sounds like a lot of time to talk.'

Svarturskuggi laughed. 'That it is, if nothing else.'

Svarturflugmaður resisted the urge to check in on Toothless as the minutes went by. It felt wrong to intrude on what was probably a private conversation, at least if he knew it was going on. He and Toothless were going to have to come up with some rules or procedures now that they were around other people. The link was great, but privacy was sometimes important.

It could be worse. If Cloey had been shot down that night, and all of this reversed, the current situation would be a thousand times more embarrassing. At least Svarturflugmaður didn't have to worry about what he might see if he randomly checked in on Toothless's perspective. There were some things better left unknown.

That line of thought kept him occupied, if nothing else. A while later, possibly half an hour, Toothless returned, followed by Svarturvon. She did not look in Svarturflugmaður's direction, but her head was hanging, and her ears flat against her skull, the picture of embarrassment or shame.

'Mom,' Toothless began, 'you really should have asked us first.'

'I know,' Cloey admitted, whining softly, 'I just didn't think, I was stupid.'

'I know you didn't mean it, mom,' Svarturvon admitted sadly. 'It was just a shock.' She looked uncomfortable, as if there was more she wasn't saying. 'And Svarturflugmaður,' Svarturvon continued quietly, 'I want to talk to you.'

"Okay." Svarturflugmaður stood, approaching Svarturvon. "Here, or..?"

'Follow me.' Svarturvon left the cave once again, Svarturflugmaður behind her. He heard Svarturskuggi call Toothless over before his brother could follow, presumably to put his own plan into motion. It seemed today was a day to clear the air.

Svarturvon began to walk into the forest, slowing so that Svarturflugmaður could walk beside her. It was a quiet night, and a clear one. The stars shone through the tree cover.

'I've never even seen a human before,' Svarturvon began without warning, her voice sad and quiet. 'I've heard stories, but that was it. Dad is overprotective.'

'I think I understand that.' Losing one's pregnant wife out of the blue one day would definitely do it. Though, Svarturflugmaður thought bitterly, losing Valka had not triggered the same in Stoick.

'Really overprotective. He made me learn to fight.' Svarturvon shook her head. 'Not like every fledgling learns. He taught me for years, long past when other fledglings were done with the basics. I thought I was just slower than everyone else.'

"But he was teaching you..?" This was an interesting story, but Svarturflugmaður wasn't sure where Svarturvon was going with it.

'Everything, including how to kill, which we don't usually teach fledglings at all.' Svarturvon sighed. 'Not as a first resort, but still. He taught me everything he knew. I hate using it, but part of me is grateful he cared enough to make me learn anyway.'

That was a bit ominous. "You don't seem like the brawling type."

'I'm not. I don't think I'll ever use most of it.' Svarturvon carefully stepped past a flower, avoiding crushing it underfoot.

They walked in silence for a few moments. Svarturflugmaður realized something as they did, and felt like slapping himself in the face. Svarturvon had just flat-out proven she shouldn't understand a word he said, and yet here they were, talking like it was totally normal.

Something clicked in his head at that fact. Svarturskuggi had been surprised. Nótteinfari had seemed confused by something, and reacted before Toothless could translate. Even Nóttleiðtogi had understood him.

But he still couldn't talk to Toothless mentally. That was immensely ironic. Svarturflugmaður could talk to any dragon and be understood, but he had to speak to do it. The whole point of trying to talk to Toothless non-verbally was so that he wouldn't have to speak out loud.

How long had he been able to do this? Really, it could have been a while. He still couldn't feel himself doing anything different, and Toothless and Cloey had understood him anyway, already knowing enough Norse to comprehend him. Everyone here on this island must have taken it for granted, and not mentioned it.

Now he felt really stupid, especially remembering that entire speech the night before, and how Toothless had repeated everything he said. They must have looked like fools. Really, what did all of the Night Furies think Toothless was trying to accomplish?

Ah well, best not to dwell on that. At least now things would be a lot less complicated. Talking to and hearing any dragon, as he was now capable of doing, was definitely a plus when living on an island full of them.

Svarturflugmaður realized that they had been walking in silence as he made his belated discovery, and tried to recover the thread of this likely important conversation. 'I thought Cloey had already asked you.'

'Apparently, she didn't even ask my real brother.' Svarturvon flinched, flattening a small shrub with her tail out of frustration. 'Sorry, that came out wrong. I don't dislike you, it's just…'

"I get it." Svarturflugmaður sighed, pushing a branch out of his way. "I'd probably feel the same in your place." Really, they were more similar than he had originally thought. He chuckled.

'What?' Svarturvon glanced at him, her eyes wide.

"An only child who lost their mother at a young age, raised by a single father." Svarturflugmaður frowned. "I'd say Svarturskuggi handled it much better. Regardless, I think I can understand how you feel."

'Really?' Svarturvon turned, heading towards the center of the island. 'That's… nice, I guess.' Her voice was uncertain.

"I know I wouldn't like being left in the dark, regardless of how I felt about the person in question." Svarturflugmaður decided to take a few shots in the dark. "I probably wouldn't know how to act around them, or whether going along with it is like saying my own opinion didn't matter anyway. Add that to the fact that everyone else seems to be okay with it, and I'd probably feel bad about it no matter what I did."

Svarturvon stopped, staring at Svarturflugmaður with wide eyes. 'You really do understand.'

"Too bad that doesn't extend to knowing how to fix it." Svarturflugmaður smiled sadly. "I'm open to ideas."

'I'd feel like an even bigger jerk,' Svarturvon muttered, flicking her ears in frustration.

"What?" That sounded promising.

'Forget it, it's not right.' Svarturvon shook her head. 'It's not fair to you.'

"I'll be the judge of that." Svarturflugmaður was interested to hear what Svarturvon thought would at once make Cloey's oversight okay and be unfair to him.

'Well, mom didn't ask me…' Svarturvon faltered, but continued after a moment. 'I was going to say you're not my brother until I say so, but that's just petty, not to mention rude!'

Svarturflugmaður smiled. "Not if I understand why. It sounds fair to me." Really, that was about as fair as it got.

'You're… okay with it?' Svarturvon seemed shocked.

"I understand." Svarturflugmaður shrugged. "How can I not be? Besides, I really don't think you want to disown me permanently. This is just a way for you to not feel powerless, which is fair enough." Really, he was kind of sacrificing to fix Cloey's mistake, but he didn't mind, as long as things between him, Svarturvon, and the rest of the family weren't strained. He was getting second chance at having a family, and it was not going to be anything less than perfect if he could help it.

'Well… okay.' Svarturvon grimaced. 'I still feel bad about it.'

"Well then, we had better get to know each other quickly." Svarturflugmaður continued walking, now leading the way into the deepest part of the forest. "Oh, and you should probably take the lead, I have no idea where we're going."

As his new brother and sister left the cave together, Toothless felt the urge to follow. He made to do so, only to be blocked by Svarturskuggi's tail, which was in the way.

'I was going to go along with them, to make sure…' To make sure Hiccup didn't mess it up, because tagging along through sight and hearing would be sneaky, while physically being around would not. No, to make sure Svarturflugmaður didn't mess it up. That was going to take a little getting used to, but he liked it.

Svarturskuggi laughed. 'Allow them time to work things out, privately. I wanted you to come with me today.'

Perfect, a chance to show his father what he could do! Toothless almost barked in happiness, but quickly suppressed that. After an entire life of having no father, he didn't want to embarass himself.

Ideally, he wanted Svarturskuggi to be proud of him. That was a tall order considering his father knew nothing about him, but surely there had to be an easy way to prove himself. 'What are we doing? Hunting? Fishing?' Something, anything to-

'Actually, we're expanding the caves.' Svarturskuggi began to walk away. 'Follow me.'

Oh. That seemed less like something he could impress Svarturskuggi with. Toothless deflated a bit, and followed his father deeper into the caves.

As they walked, Svarturskuggi chuffed. 'You killed a massive dragon and stopped a war.'

Yes, he did. 'Mom and Hic-Svarturflugmaður helped.' He'd just barely remembered the new name that time.

'But you were a part of that. A big part.' Svarturskuggi laughed. 'I have done nothing quite so impressive.'

Wait, what? 'I don't understand…'

'A little Terror told me you might feel like you have to impress me.' They walked into the large central cavern from the day before.

'I…' It wasn't like he could deny it. He made a mental note to "thank" his brother for telling Svarturskuggi. Maybe an appreciative barrage of licking. Svarturflugmaður seemed to love that. He finalized his planning of revenge with that decision.

'You already have.' Svarturskuggi led him into another set of caves, and towards a side cavern. 'I could not be any more impressed. But it doesn't matter.'

'Why not?' Toothless was curious now.

'You are my son. I'm not going to…' Svarturskuggi grimaced. 'Well, disown you. Not the best example.'

'Yeah, no.' Toothless winced.

'Anyway, you don't have to try to impress me. I'm not that shallow.' Svarturskuggi shrugged his wing-shoulders. 'I might have to impress you though.' There was a hint of a teasing tone in his voice.

'What?!' Toothless responded without thought. 'No you don't, that's ridiculous!' He couldn't have said why he felt that, but he did. It just didn't sound right.

'I think I do,' Svarturskuggi warbled, 'because my son turned out to be so awesome. Nothing I do could possibly compare-'

'Okay, I get it!' Toothless whined dramatically, covering his ears with his front paws, though he had to stop walking and sit on his hind legs to do it. 'No one needs to impress anyone!'

'Perfect.' Svarturskuggi purred evilly. 'You fold under the slightest pressure.' His tone was still light and playful.

'No…' Toothless saw what his father was doing. 'I can't win this discussion.' That was apparent.

'To be fair,' a new voice interrupted, 'few of us can beat your father in a war of words.' A familiar Night Fury with grey eyes stepped out of the side passage they had stopped at.

'Togi,' Svarturskuggi greeted him civilly. 'I thought it was Nóttskarpur's turn today?'

'I needed to blow off some smoke.' Nóttleiðtogi eyed Toothless. 'I see you are bringing your son today?'

'Yes, I am.' Svarturskuggi glanced at the side cavern. 'This is not the best way to rid yourself of frustrations, you know.'

'Yes, but it is the only option available at present.' Nóttleiðtogi grimaced. 'I would speak to you privately, Skuggi.'

'Yes, you would.' Svarturskuggi growled softly. 'But we both know how that conversation is going to go, so there's no real reason to have it, is there?'

'Do we?' Nóttleiðtogi seemed unsure how to take that. 'Good.' He glanced over at Toothless. 'There are some things that probably shouldn't be spoken here anyway.'

'Maybe not, it appears.' Svarturskuggi sighed. 'Friend, I trust my mate.'

'More than your own common sense?!' Nóttleiðtogi dropped all attempts at appearing calm. 'You know what is at stake!'

'I know what is at stake,' Svarturskuggi replied evenly, 'but I trust her all the same. Do you think me easy to fool?'

'No, but-' Nóttleiðtogi didn't seem to like admitting that.

'Then trust that I am capable of making sure no harm comes to us, if you do not trust Svarturkló's judgment.' Svarturskuggi cut Nóttleiðtogi's words off with a short snarl. 'I am not endangering anyone here, but I will not throw away the life of another for no reason either.'

Toothless remained silent, knowing that to interfere would not be taken well by either of the older dragons. The way they spoke told of long familiarity, possibly even friendship, however strained at the moment. It was not a quarrel so much as a disagreement. He knew interfering was a bad idea, but it was hard when Nóttleiðtogi was so clearly against Svarturflugmaður.

'I cannot trust it,' Nóttleiðtogi growled, pawing at the stone floor.

Toothless growled, incensed. 'He is not an it.'

Neither of the older dragons seemed to notice, now locked in something of a staring contest.

'I do not ask you to,' Svarturskuggi responded, much to Toothless's surprise. 'Simply prepare for all possibilities, as you always do, mentally as well as physically.'

'You give me leave to-'

Svarturskuggi cut him off. 'To prepare, and no more. To watch and use logic, to see things as they are, not as you would assume they are. I do not truly know the truth, but I will be doing the same, and so far what I see is good.'

'Not for long, I think.' Nóttleiðtogi snarled, walking away now. 'If it comes near my family with the slightest hint of threat, there will not be enough of it left for anyone else to be sure what happened.' With that ominous threat, he disappeared from sight, rounding a sharp corner. An enraged snarl echoed throughout the caves. Toothless would make sure that if Nóttleiðtogi ever tried anything, that threat would apply to the grey-eyed dragon instead.

'Well, it appears it will be just us.' Svarturskuggi chuckled. 'Come on.' He disappeared inside the side-passage, seemingly unworried by Nóttleiðtogi's words.

Toothless lingered for a moment, trying to sort through his thoughts. Nóttleiðtogi was a mystery, and Toothless's father not much less of one. Life here was not starting out simple, that was for sure.

"So, what do you do for fun around here?" Svarturflugmaður asked as he hopped a fallen tree.

'Fun?' Svarturvon glanced at Svarturflugmaður skeptically. 'Well, there are the other dragons. Sometimes we play games.'

"Do these other dragons include any who might want me dead?" It was a good question. On that note, how many dragons actually wanted him gone? Hopefully just the ones with grey eyes.

'Probably not…' Svarturvon shook her head. 'But if Joy is involved, Einfari or Nóttreiði might be around, so I can't be sure.'

Svarturflugmaður went over who those names belonged to. Nóttreiði was the one that had tried to kill him the night before… after it had been agreed that he could stay. Best to stay away from that one for the time being. "Maybe not a good idea then."

'I swim in the pond, sometimes,' Svarturvon volunteered. 'And run, but you wouldn't be able to-'

"Keep up?" Svarturflugmaður grinned. "Probably better than you would think."

'I'm really fast,' Svarturvon admitted. 'I like to run.'

"All the more fun." Svarturflugmaður began overdramatically stretching. "Let's see just how fast you are."

Svarturvon rumbled in amusement. 'Okay.' She oriented herself towards one side of the large mountain that dominated one side of the island, not quite towards the caves they had left. 'To the pond. You can't miss it, it's in this direction.'

"Go!" Svarturflugmaður burst into a run, ignoring Svarturvon's bark of surprise. "I'm going to need all the help I can get!" He called back to her.

'Yeah,' she panted, closing the gap, 'you are.' Her movement was more fluid than anything Svarturflugmaður had seen Toothless or Cloey do, almost serpentine in the way she threaded through the tangled terrain.

"Uh oh." Svarturvon was really good. She passed him with ease, disappearing into the undergrowth ahead. Svarturflugmaður tried to catch up, but it was a lost cause.

The pond, when he made it there, was quite nice. It was directly set against the base of a small sheer rock wall, which was concave so that a full half of the pond was bordered by the edge of the mountain. The other half had a small piece of rocky beach, but most of the edge of the pond was covered in tangled trees. It was a quiet, shadowed place, one that felt peaceful. Svarturvon stood by the edge, looking out into the forest.

"You're… really… good," Svarturflugmaður panted, his hands on his knees. "Really, really good."

'Thank you.' Svarturvon purred softly. 'You are good too.'

"Clearly not." Svarturflugmaður straightened. "I need way more practice."

Svarturvon shrugged noncommittally. 'What do you think of this place?' she asked, nodding towards the pond. There was a hint of apprehension in her voice.

"It's nice," Svarturflugmaður idly commented, taking in the view. "Really nice. It almost reminds me of the cove." That was more atmosphere than anything. Peace, solitude. Hidden, in a way, though not nearly as hidden as the cove had been. "Do other dragons come here often?"

'No,' Svarturvon shook her head. 'The Myrkurs know they're not supposed to mess with me here.' There seemed to be a story behind that, judging by Svarturvon's tone. 'Einfari, rarely, but she knows it's kind of my place.'

"Yours?" Svarturflugmaður could hear something in Svarturvon's voice again. He wasn't sure what it was, but it was there.

'A while ago, some of us stopped hanging around the Myrkurs.' Svarturvon shrugged. 'Myrkursprenging and Myrkursprengja are okay now, but back then they were a bit over-the-top. So around that time, I got Einfari and Eldurhjarta to help me make this place off-limits to them, as sort of a trick-free zone.' Svarturvon sounded uncomfortable. 'When the Myrkurs got the message and toned it down, Eldurhjarta and Einfari didn't really see the need for it. So it's mine, now.'

There was a hidden message there, one Svarturflugmaður only heard through experience. "But I'm betting you really didn't want to just hang around here alone, so when they stopped showing up…"

'Exactly.' Svarturvon nodded. 'This is just a nice place to swim or relax now, not particularly special.'

Svarturflugmaður was starting to build up a picture of Svarturvon's life. It wasn't a particularly bad one, but not that great either. "Any friends now?"

'Einfari,' Svarturvon immediately replied. Then she seemed to remember who she was talking to. 'She's not that bad, usually, it's just that you're-'

"The scariest one on this island, it seems." Svarturflugmaður chuckled. "Never thought I'd see the day."

'Well, not to most of us.' Svarturvon squinted at Svarturflugmaður. 'And you look nothing like the stories.' She poked inquisitively at Svarturflugmaður's arms. 'These should be bigger.' Then she looked pointedly at his head. 'And where are the horns?'

Svarturflugmaður chuckled. 'We don't have horns, those aren't real. And I'm a bit smaller than most.' That was an understatement. "Believe me, I know I don't look like everyone else." Svarturflugmaður took another look at the pond, considering why Svarturvon had brought them there. "It's a little cold to swim."

'Not for me,' Svarturvon sat down, 'but I don't really want to.'

Svarturflugmaður counted that in itself as progress, if Svarturvon wanted to stay around him. "I didn't think dragons swam all that much."

'We don't, because we're pretty bad at it.' Svarturvon shook a front paw. 'These are not good for keeping afloat, and our wings don't help. But I like it, even if I am bad at it.'

"So what do you want to do?" Svarturflugmaður smiled at her, sitting down on the banks of the pond himself.

'Well… I did have a few questions.' Svarturvon warbled curiously. 'Is it true humans can pop dragon heads off with their paws?'

"Well, I'm pretty sure that's an exaggeration…" Svarturflugmaður began sheepishly, knowing that a rumor had passed around Berk involving Stoick doing exactly that… as a baby.

As they talked, Svarturflugmaður correcting or in a few cases confirming the tangled mass of ideas Svarturvon had about humans, he began to get an idea of just how many stories Svarturvon had heard. Then it came out that none of her generation, save for the Myrkurs, had ever even seen a human, or a village. Stories really were all they had to go on, which explained Svarturvon's lack of fear.

Svarturflugmaður really didn't look like a human to the younger dragons. That was ironic. They only recognized him as such because he could talk, and humans were the only non-dragon figures in the stories even close to that smart.

Time passed, and neither of them suggested leaving, though Svarturflugmaður did at one point check in with Toothless, who was staring at a stone wall and talking to Svarturskuggi. Things seemed to be going well there, so he left them to it.

Svarturvon became far more open and enthusiastic as the night wore on, shedding the cover of shyness by degrees.

Eventually though, Toothless accessed Svarturflugmaður's senses. Svarturflugmaður held up a hand, letting Svarturvon know something was up. "Toothless,' he said for Svarturvon's benefit, "What's up?"

'Well, I figured you two might want to know that we're all eating together in a few minutes.' Toothless's voice became sly. 'Did she apologize?'

"Really bud, that's all you want to know?" Svarturflugmaður laughed. "We've worked things out." Although explaining to the others that Svarturvon wasn't accepting Svarturflugmaður as a brother until she wanted to might be a bit tense. It did sound petty and rude unless one thought it through.

'Can he see me?' Svarturvon stared into Svarturflugmaður's eyes curiously.

"Yup." Svarturflugmaður knew Toothless was looking through his eyes. "And he can probably hear you too."

'Yes, I can.' Toothless confirmed. Svarturflugmaður relayed that.

'Weird.' Svarturvon stood. 'Do they want us back?'

"Yes. We'll be there soon, Toothless." Svarturflugmaður considered the distance. "A few minutes."

'Or a few seconds..?' Svarturvon inquired quietly.

"You would carry me?" That really was unexpected. After spending months getting Cloey's trust, these quick improvements on the parts of Svarturskuggi and Svarturvon were really disorienting. Having two family members vouch for one made things really easy, it seemed. Or maybe he was just getting better at it, though the Nótt family seemed to disprove that theory.

'My brother does,' was her answer. 'And I like you.' She warbled sheepishly. 'You understand me.'

That, Svarturflugmaður didn't say, was because he knew what being an only child with no mother was like, though that didn't make it untrue. "If you're really okay with it…"

'I wonder how things went with them,' Toothless remarked casually to Svarturskuggi, who was standing beside him, watching the forest.

'That very likely depends on what you said to Von,' Svarturskuggi remarked.

'Just that while I really think mom should have asked her, it isn't that she didn't care. She genuinely forgot. Svarturvon shouldn't feel hurt about that.' There had been a little more, but that was mostly commiserating with Svarturvon, so that she wouldn't feel singled out… and maybe to set a better example. If both of them were slighted, and Toothless casually noted it and dismissed it as an honest mistake, it was more likely Svarturvon would feel like she should do the same.

'That's good.' Svarturskuggi glanced up, and then did a quick double-take. 'Either you were less successful than you thought and she has left him to walk back alone, or Svarturflugmaður is far more effective than I would have guessed.'

'Wha-' Toothless saw Svarturvon angle down towards them, a shallow incline to allow Svarturflugmaður to hold on with no saddle. 'I never doubted him.' That was pretty much Svarturflugmaður in a nutshell. Leave him with a neutral dragon for a day, and he returns with her voluntarily carrying him.

It was getting easier to think of him as Svarturflugmaður in his head, but Toothless still thought the name was too long for casual use. He still needed to find a way around that.

'Where's mom?' Svarturvon inquired as she landed and Svarturflugmaður hopped off.

'Getting food.' Svarturskuggi grimaced. 'She feels very bad about this, just so you know.'

'I know,' Svarturvon admitted, looking slightly guilty. 'I might have overreacted a little.'

'Well, just be sure you let her know,' Svarturskuggi admonished gently. 'Put all of this to rest as completely as possible. Little remnants of bad feelings can fester if left untreated.'

"Speaking of which, Toothless," Svarturflugmaður began, "What were you doing this morning?"

'What?' Toothless searched his memories of the morning, but could find nothing unusual.

"You watched me and Svarturvon walk off… without a translator." Svarturflugmaður grinned. "A pretty pointless exercise if she can't understand a word I'm saying, wouldn't you agree? I'm the first human she's ever seen."

'But… I…' Toothless's mind felt broken, like he had slipped in midair and didn't know which way was up. Svarturflugmaður couldn't talk to Svarturvon, but he had been talking to Svarturvon, but he shouldn't be able to…

"Also, on a related note, I can apparently talk to any dragon." Svarturflugmaður shook his head wryly. "As long as I speak what I want to say out loud, they hear me in their minds too, as best I can tell."

That solved Toothless's internal conflict. 'Oh!' Then he realized the implications of that, and drooped. 'You've been doing it for a while?' It made sense. That was embarrassing.

At that moment, Cloey dropped in, bearing fish and a guilty expression.

Svarturvon nipped that in the bud immediately. 'Mom, I'm sorry.'

Cloey dropped the fish she had been carrying, and also dropped a very familiar stick, upon which fish were clumsily speared. It appeared the stick worked even if one was not a human. 'For what? It's my fault.'

'For overreacting.' Svarturvon met her mother's eyes. 'It was an honest mistake, and Svarturflugmaður and I have worked it out.'

'Dare I ask?' Svarturskuggi took a fish, pulling it off of the stick with a purr. Toothless followed suit.

Svarturvon looked down, seeming embarrassed. 'It sounds bad, but…'

"We agreed I won't be her brother until she wants me to." Svarturflugmaður said quickly. "She gets to make the call herself, just like everyone else here."

There was a moment of silence. Toothless decided to break it. 'Sounds fair.'

That seemed to dissolve the tension in the air. Toothless wondered, as they ate, just how long it would take Svarturvon. Knowing Svarturflugmaður, he was betting on under a week.

After Svarturvon left the cave, Toothless decided to make things interesting. 'Two fish says Svarturvon comes around in under a week,' he announced to the cave.

Cloey chuckled. 'She seems strong and independent. You're on. I say more than a week.'

"Do I get to bet?' Svarturflugmaður asked.

'No, because you're the one who is able to influence the outcome.' Toothless warbled in amusement. 'I'll share my prize, if you try extra-hard.'

'No bribery!' Cloey cried out in mock disgust.

The echoes of good-natured laughter resounded throughout the caverns.

Time passed. Svarturflugmaður and Toothless spent a few more days exclusively with Svarturvon, just getting used to her and learning all they could about her. She definitely didn't seem to mind the attention, though she wasn't vain or prideful.

The decision Svarturvon had been given back seemed to be weighing on her more every night. Svarturflugmaður felt a little bad about that, though he knew it wasn't really his fault if she was feeling pressured. Really, there had been no perfect way to do any of this after Cloey had made the decision, but that was life. Imperfect.

Six days after that first night, during the first meal of the day, the one they all shared, Svarturvon took Svarturflugmaður aside.

'I'm ready,' was all she said.

"Cool." Svarturflugmaður smiled, and held out a hand to her. "Sister?"

'Brother,' she confirmed, her nose touching his hand for a moment.

That was all it took. Svarturflugmaður knew without looking that everyone else was watching.

Toothless butted in, literally, his head nudging Svarturflugmaður to the side. 'Six days. I win.'

'Win?' Svarturvon asked curiously. 'Win what?'

'Two fish,' Toothless announced proudly, 'for betting that you'd come around in less than a week.'

'Who says you won?' Cloey asked. 'Six nights, plus the night we got here. That's a week, and you said less than one.'

'The first night doesn't count!' Toothless looked up imploringly at Svarturflugmaður. 'I won, right?'

'No one wins this bet on my decision,' Svarturvon announced. 'I say that it took me exactly a week, meaning neither of you win.'

Cloey and Toothless both groaned in frustration.

'Where were you getting the fish, anyway?' Svarturvon asked with a purr. 'We get fish all the time, and they're not exactly a valuable resource, when there's so many of them so close by.'

Toothless looked crestfallen. 'I hadn't thought of that…'

'We'll think of something better to bet with next time,' Cloey decided. 'This time it was a draw.'

Toothless huffed. 'Fine. Now that that's settled, I have something I've been waiting to bring up now that we're officially family.'

"Seriously bud? What's so important that you waited a week?"

'I like your name, don't get me wrong, but its too long,' Toothless stated bluntly.

"Too long." Svarturflugmaður looked around, noting the amused faces of Cloey and Svarturskuggi. "That's your complaint?"

'Yup.' Toothless snorted, clearly serious. 'You need a short one too, and now that Svarturvon has officially accepted you, we can all decide on one.'

"Okay, what do you have in mind?" Svarturflugmaður asked sarcastically. "If it's Hiccup, I'm throwing an eel at you."

'No need for threats, brother,' Toothless hastily replied, edging away from Svarturflugmaður. 'I really don't know. Anyone got any ideas?'

Cloey piped up from a ledge in the corner. 'How about just Flugmaður?'

'Still a bit long,' Toothless mused.

"Do I get a say in this?" Svarturflugmaður asked, amused.

'Sure, but we need ideas first.' Toothless turned to Svarturvon. 'How about you?'

'Maybe something similar to Flugmaður, but not quite the same?' Svarturvon closed her eyes for a moment. 'Something with the same general sound, so it's not confusing.'

'Flugmaður,' Toothless said slowly, before repeating it even slower. 'Flugmathur…'

'Possibly without the first part?' Svarturskuggi added.

'Mathur, math-ur,' Toothless continued, drawing out and changing the pronunciation of sounds at random. It sounded like gibberish, but he was clearly hoping for something to pop out at him.

'Mat, no, too short and boring, Math just feels wrong, Maour doesn't mean anything,' Toothless sighed. 'I can't-'

Svarturflugmaður blinked. "You know, I like that last one. Maour?"

'Why?' Svarturvon seemed confused, her tail waving erratically. 'It doesn't mean anything.'

"Trust me, after having a name that means an annoying breathing issue, that doesn't bother me." Svarturflugmaður tried to put into words why he liked it. "It sounds good, it fits my full name, and it could pass for fairly normal with Vikings."

'It does sound good,' Svarturskuggi agreed. 'All in favor?'

'I like it,' Svarturvon proclaimed, before appearing to realize that seemed a bit contradictory. 'Now that I know why you like it,' she added quickly.

'If Svarturflugmaður likes it, I don't see why not.' Cloey voiced her opinion.

'A name that only means you,' Svarturskuggi mused. 'An interesting choice, and a good one, I think.'

'Maour it is, brother.' Toothless ambushed the yet-again-renamed Maour with a lick across the face. 'And this is the last time we rename you.'

"I'm good with that," Maour agreed, wiping his face off.

He decided that thinking of himself as Maour would be easier than Svarturflugmaður too, though he loved his new name. He was getting used to having several different names. Also, he noticed now that none of the Furies referred to each other with their full names anymore. In fact, his name for Svarturkló, Cloey, had caught on with Toothless and Svarturvon. Cloey didn't mind. Maour understood now why Toothless had been so casual about adding 'Toothless' to his list of monikers. For a dragon, it didn't really matter what you were called by family. It wasn't like any one name was most important, they all mattered.

Svarturvon joined the conversation. 'While we are on the subject of names, what do you two want to call me?' She seemed a bit insecure about it, and Maour and Toothless both picked up on that.

"Nothing silly, like Toothless. That wouldn't work. What do you think, Toothless?" Maour was joking around, but not really. Svarturvon probably wouldn't appreciate a crazy nickname.

'Hey, my name isn't silly. But seriously, I think Von works. Nice and precise. No need to shorten or mangle that to get a good name.' Toothless seemed totally serious.

"Good point. I think Von works well. Wait, what does that mean?" Maour had never been told what any name but his own meant. "For that matter, what do kappi and kló and skuggi mean? I feel like I should know."

Svarturskuggi answered that. 'For starters, Von means hope.' Von squirmed in embarrassment.

Maour felt that that was a good name for the shy but optimistic Fury. "Cool, that fits perfectly." He said that entirely sincerely, and Von purred in thanks. "What about the others?"

'Kappi means warrior. Skuggi means shadow. And kló means claw.' Svarturskuggi gestured to Toothless, himself, and Cloey in turn. Maour had an idea what to call Svarturskuggi.

"Svarturskuggi, do you mind if I call you Shadow?" He felt that was the name he would most associate with the ever-present older Fury. Shadow was always around, in a way that didn't feel overbearing so much as comforting.

'Not at all.' Shadow seemed pleased by this. 'My brother used to call me that. It is nice to hear that name again. It has been a long time.' He was purring softly now.

Maour felt he had to sum things up. "So we've got Toothless, Von, Cloey, and Shadow, along with me, Maour."

Toothless finished the statement. "The Svartur family." He had said it not at all ironically, and they all really felt a little more like a family than before.

**_Author's Note:_ ** **Why Maour? Literally the reasons he lists in-story. It doesn't mean anything, it isn't Hiccup, it relates at least somewhat to his original name, though that's a stretch, and it's way better than my first decision, made when I first wrote this story. My beta quite rightfully made the point that if I was going to rename Hiccup it probably shouldn't be to something as generic as 'Mat.' Yes, that was actually what I was working with. Not entirely sure why I settled on that back in July of 2018, but I guess I never got a better option that checked all of the boxes I had for the name. Even 'Maour' was suggested by Fizzlemcschnizzle, and I think that was just because the 'ð' looked like an 'o'. (I may be totally wrong, but given 'Maour' isn't actually a word, and happens to be Maður when the o is replaced, it feels likely.) Fun fact, Maour is actually the name of a river in Cameroon.**

**Also, on a totally unrelated note, a reader once told me this story had an Eragon vibe in regards to the dynamic between Hiccup and Toothless. I'd never read Eragon, so I picked it up… and that's another story, and another rant I'd rather not put here. The point being, it got me thinking, what stories have that certain dynamic? I just hit upon two by chance.**

**Gregor The Overlander, specifically the later books, has that dynamic to a degree between several pairs of characters, and is an interestingly dark story given the targeted age group, and the age of the main character. Not many eleven-year-olds thrown into bloody wars in children's fiction, at least not many who by the end are hardened killers. Also, by the end of the story, Gregor and his friend would bear a really eerie resemblance to HTTYD3 Hiccup and Toothless.**

**Castaways of the Flying Dutchman has it, between the two main characters (a boy and a dog here, who can talk telepathically as one facet of the main plot point, which is very likely not what anyone who looks into it from this post is expecting. I'm not spoiling that.)**

**On that note, Brian Jacques, the author of the latter suggestion, might be the king of violence in children's stories, specifically his Redwall universe. Not to knock the stories, quite good (and honestly, I probably consider the violence a plus given how it was done), but I do recall the main character in one of them being expected to skin someone else alive, given a knife and everything. Another book's villain had his back broken by the protagonist, and was left by a supposed ally to float out to sea like that, and stuff like death in battle, occasional torture, and random death by accident wasn't rare. (Now I need to go back and reread some of them, because I'm remembering just how good they were, though I'm really not giving them a ringing endorsement here). To contrast that, he also liked to describe food (to the point where his works spawned an original cookbook), which is a bit of a weird counterpoint to the dark and realistic violence. I really don't think I'll ever start doing that, though I'm getting gradually better with writing violence, which is going to show in this series sooner or later as we move forward to more recent writing (though this chapter is less than a week old). He was great at worldbuilding too, with over twenty books in the same universe, covering like six or seven consecutive generations of characters and conflicts. Also the creator of some of the weirdest warcries I've ever seen.**


	29. Chapter 29

**_Author's Note:_ ** **Winter break is almost upon us, and so I must ensure that my posting schedule is not hindered. It seems that Saturdays will be a good fallback day, so while I plan to hold to the Thursday updates over the rest of December, if a story does not appear to have updated on a given Thursday, expect it the following Saturday at the latest. This is just a precaution, but better safe than unpredictably late due to unreliable wifi!**

**On a more positive note, as of a day after the last chapter, this story broke twenty thousand views. (Actually, it was already past twenty-one thousand when I put this up). That's amazing, and we still aren't done. (Getting closer though, this surprisingly large expansion notwithstanding.) Enjoy another longer-than-average chapter!**

Hiccup, now Maour, hadn't seen a Fury with grey eyes since the first night on the island. He'd almost forgotten about their presence save for a few reminders, such as Toothless telling him about Nóttleiðtogi's encounter with Shadow in the caves. Therefore, when he decided to go wander the island alone on a whim, it didn't occur to him that he might need protection. Toothless had been off somewhere with Von, and Maour didn't want to inconvenience his brother, so he figured it would be fine.

He spent the day circling the mountain, looking at and sketching it from different angles. That odd top was something he and Toothless were going to have to explore soon.

A crackle of foliage behind him announced the presence of a dragon, followed by a soft snort. He pretended not to hear, guessing that the dragon thought itself undetected, having not announced itself.

Ambient heat gently wafted from behind, almost as if someone was looking over his shoulder. Turning his head, green eyes met grey.

"Hi," Maour said quietly, taking in the small head, barely half the size of a full-grown Fury. This was the youngest Fury he'd ever seen, no longer from nose to tail than Maour was tall.

'You're small.' The Fury asserted, nudging Maour's shoulder with its nose, inhaling deeply. 'What are you?'

"Good question," Maour smirked, slightly uncomfortable. "What do you think I am?" He wasn't sure if he wanted this little dragon to associate him with Vikings. It would be like telling a little kid that he was a monster, of sorts. But that depended on what it, she by the tone of her voice, had been told.

'Father says you're an experiment.' She asserted confidently, though the lilt in her voice indicated that she didn't know what that meant.

Maour laughed. "Kind of, but that's not what I am." Now he knew she was a Nótt, if the eye color hadn't been enough indication.

'He also says to run from you if I see you.' She confided quietly. 'Mother agrees, but she doesn't look like she wants to.'

That hurt more than Maour had been expecting. ""What could I do, bite your head off with my blunt, little teeth?"

'I don't think so…' The little dragon eyed him nervously. 'You don't look that scary.'

"Not that I disagree, but how would you know what scary looks like?" Maour asked lightly.

That seemed to stump her. After a moment, she sneezed, a small glob of mucus hitting the ground between them. 'I don't,' she admitted.

Maour smirked, inwardly glad that the mucus had hit the ground and not him. "I guess living here means you wouldn't have much chance to learn. Lucky."

'Yeah.' She agreed, her voice soft. 'Sire says the same thing.'

That gave Maour something to think about. "What's your name?"

'Nótthljóður.' She chirped happily.

"Nice to meet you, Nótthljóður. I'm Svarturflugmaður." He enjoyed introducing himself with a name that wasn't an embarrassment.

Nótthljóður groaned dramatically, pawing at her head. 'Your name is too long.'

Maour snorted. "So's yours. Believe me, I know that feeling." It had taken him many reminders to sort out the myriad of complex names of just the few Furies he interacted with often. It was nice to know someone else had the same problem. He could, he knew, let her use his short name, but he still wasn't entirely sure what that entailed, so for the moment he held off on that.

'I like you.' Nótthljóður said eagerly. 'Come follow me?'

Maour stood. "Sure." He realized belatedly what she had meant when she began to flap her wings wildly, making it off the ground somewhat slower than a fully-grown dragon could. He ran along below her, shouting up, "Uh, I can't fly."

Nótthljóður dropped to the ground as if she had forgotten how flight worked, hitting the dirt with a thud that made Maour wince. 'Why?.' She eyed him. 'Use your wings.'

Maour held out his arms. "I don't have any."

'Maybe they'll grow in soon.' She trotted off into the forest on foot without another word, leaving Maour slightly bemused..

Maour followed behind the little dragon as she made her way through the forest, moving towards a side of the mountain he hadn't yet explored. The forest wasn't quite as dense here. It also wasn't as chaotic as Berk had tended to be, with less massive boulders randomly deposited around the mountain. He wasn't entirely sure why that was. The trees swayed lightly in the wind around them as they walked.

In his study of the surrounding environment, Maour didn't realize where they were going until the cave was in sight.

He'd never been stupid enough to look for the Nótt section of the caverns. But apparently, he was stupid enough to follow an innocent little dragon whose family wanted him dead… without asking where she was taking him.

Luckily, there didn't seem to be anyone around. He stopped, entirely unwilling to go any closer.

Nótthljóður turned, staring at him in confusion. 'We're almost there, why are you stopping?'

How to explain this? "I shouldn't go in there."

'Why?' Nótthljóður tilted her head.

"Your family doesn't like me." He could say that much.

'Why?' She repeated.

"Well…" Why, indeed. "It's not really me, I haven't done anything. They just don't like humans, which is fair, although your family seems to really hate them."

'Why?'

"Honestly, I don't know," Maour admitted. "I'm surprised you don't know."

'It is not a story for fledglings.' A deep voice rumbled.

Maour spun, almost knocking his head on Nóttleiðtogi's chest. Nóttleiðtogi was much sneakier than his youngest daughter. "I'll be going now…" Maour tried weakly.

'No.' Nóttleiðtogi said quietly, a deep tension underlying his words. 'You will explain what you are doing with my daughter, and what you are doing here. Now.'

Maour raised his hands instinctively, trying to show that he wasn't dangerous. Strangely, Nóttleiðtogi flinched before seeming to recognize the gesture.

"I was just following…" That was not the best way to put it, judging by Nóttleiðtogi's snarl.

'I asked him to follow me.' Nótthljóður interjected, apparently picking up on the tension in the air. 'I like him.'

'Joy,' Nóttleiðtogi hissed as he turned to his daughter, 'you can go find Einfari. And we will talk later about this.' He snorted as Nótthljóður quickly ran off, casting an apologetic glance at Maour as she went.

So much for the only witness. Wait…

Maour felt like slapping himself. He quickly accessed Toothless's hearing, knowing that his brother would feel it, check in on him, and see the predicament he was in. Hopefully, Toothless would get there fast enough.

Nóttleiðtogi, oblivious to this act of desperation, eyed Maour warily. 'You are not to be around my daughter.' He snarled angrily. 'Around my family. Ever.'

"I didn't try to be!" Maour objected. "She found me in the middle of the woods! What was I supposed to do, scare her off? Run away?" Probably not the safest way to respond, but he just needed to stall until Toothless could get to them. Running through the woods, it would be a few minutes. The more time he could spend being threatened by Nóttleiðtogi, as opposed to being attacked by him, the better.

Nóttleiðtogi blinked, before responding angrily. 'You should have scared her off if you are as truly different as you claim.' There was sarcasm in that last bit.

"What?" Maour had no idea what that meant. "Why? Also, how do you think I would do that anyway?" He very deliberately gestured to himself.

'She is a dragon.' Nóttleiðtogi answered, pacing angrily. 'If she likes you, she will not fear you. She must fear you, fear your kind.' He snarled. 'The sight of something walking on two legs with no wings should be enough to scare her, no matter how scrawny. She has heard enough stories.'

"Fear is too much," Maour argued back. "Wary of humans in general, that's a good idea. A great idea. But if she fears me, that doesn't help anyone. It just makes her life harder, because contrary to what you think, I am not a threat in any way, and as such will be here for the foreseeable future."

At that moment, Toothless interjected in Maour's mind. 'Hold on, Von's coming as fast as she can! I'm following on foot!'

Maour spared a moment to be thankful he had already gained at least some trust with the dragon who was technically his sister. More than he thought if the shy Fury was coming to his aid. Then again, he'd yet to meet a dragon without protective instincts.

Nóttleiðtogi shook his head. 'Fear is better. We were wary…' He seemed to realize who he was arguing with. 'Not that you'd understand anything.'

"Try me." Maour challenged, crossing his arms.

'Fine.' Nóttleiðtogi snarled. 'My brother died because he was not afraid. My mother died because we were not afraid. My father died because none of us truly knew just how dangerous your kind is. Because we were wary, but not afraid,' he almost screamed. 'Fear would have kept us safe! Would have gotten us to leave the moment we saw them coming!' Eyes sharp slits, claws extended fully, Nóttleiðtogi seemed to be seeing something that wasn't there, and he clearly wasn't liking whatever it was.

Every nerve in Maour's legs cried out for action. He could sense this dragon was close to attacking out of grief and anger. Yet, unbidden, a thought came to mind. He always ran. He ran from Snotlout. He ran from Astrid. He ran from his father and from his tribe and his home.

So, to the abject horror Toothless voiced in his head, Maour refused to run. Instead, he sat, turning his side to the dragon that wanted to tear him limb from limb, thus removing any chance of surviving an attack.

"I'm sorry." It was simple, and the truth, in a way.

Nóttleiðtogi froze. He stared at Maour as if he wasn't quite sure what he was seeing was real. The only part of him that betrayed the rage still flowing beneath the surface was his eyes, which were still slitted black pupils cutting cloudy grey eyes.

"I don't want to make this hard," Maour continued, "but I really can't help what species I am."

'That is as good as an admission that you mean me and my family harm!' Nóttleiðtogi snarled. 'Your entire species does!'

"No," Maour frantically backtracked, "it's just me saying that no matter how much I try, I'll always be a human in body. Not in action." Though really, as he was human, anything he did was by definition human in action. It was a somewhat pointless argument, but hopefully, one that would get Nóttleiðtogt to think.

Nóttleiðtogi did not seem at all appeased. 'I will not allow you to hurt my people.'

Maybe a different tactic would work. "And I won't let you hurt mine." Maour continued before Nóttleiðtogi could take that the wrong way. "Getting rid of me will hurt Toothless, Cloey, and the rest of the Svarturs. Especially given there's no point!"

'No point.' Nóttleiðtogi froze. 'Killing a human on an island that no human should ever know about would have no point?' His voice was calm, dark. This scared Maour far more than the earlier rage had. 'Unless you've already betrayed us…' That was way worse.

Maour was almost out of ideas, and what he had left wasn't much help. Nóttleiðtogi knew the basics of Maour's past, that was no help, and wasn't hearing anything except what already fit his assumptions… the only ways Maour could think of to get through to Nóttleiðtogi were stupid and desperate, unlikely to work.

Maour was saved from making a decision between bad options by a shriek from above.

Von plummeted out of the sky, landing heavily between Maour and Nóttleiðtogi. She looked as terrified as Maour should should have been feeling by all rights. 'Get on!'

Nóttleiðtogi flinched, again looking as if he'd been struck. 'No,' he managed, speaking to Von. 'You're letting it on your back!'

Von glanced at Nóttleiðtogi. 'Yeah, so?' Her voice was cold. 'You're dangerous, and that's the fastest way to get him out of here before your family tries to break the agreement... again.'

'You trust him-'

'Enough.' Von interrupted. 'Not totally, not yet, but that's my own issue, not because he's untrustworthy.'

Maour was slightly stunned. Where was the purported shyness Von wore like a cloak around others? He'd heard of it, but never actually seen it after the first few days, which Von had told him was because he was family. That might actually be why Nóttleiðtogi looked so stunned. Apparently, Von was the last dragon expected to warm up to anyone.

Looking at Nóttleiðtogi… Von's words had done more to disarm and surprise him than anything Maour had said. The grey-eyed dragon was no longer appeared to be on the brink of violence, though he was still clearly not far from it.

Nóttleiðtogi drooped almost imperceptibly as Von shifted, moving away from him and towards Maour, who hadn't yet gotten on.

'If even you trust…' Nóttleiðtogi said quietly. 'The Myrkurs were first…'

Through no action on Maour's part. They had accepted him pretty much immediately, for some reason, though Maour only knew this from Cloey telling him, as he hadn't really interacted with the other dragon families much yet.

'...Skuggi and you seem to like him too. Now he comes to my family, and has already gained my youngest daughter's interest. Isn't it obvious?'

Maour finally spoke. "Yeah, I'm trying to get my new neighbors to not hate me, although I'd like to point out that your daughter found me, not the other way around. That's wrong because..?"

'Because you are trying.' Nóttleiðtogi replied directly. 'I can see no real motive for your apparent need to be liked, aside from plotting.'

"Let's get something straight," Maour said angrily. "I don't need you to like me. I want to at least be trusted a little, to not be in danger, but even that's optional. Here, I have at least four people who actually like me for who I am and want me around. That's more than anywhere else I've lived. If you think I'd sell out or betray that-" His voice faltered, and after a moment he continued. "Sorry, you're not the only one who has suffered loss." With that, he climbed onto Von's back.

'I know your claims,' was Nóttleiðtogi's response. 'Svarturvon. Please don't leave yet.'

Von stayed, though it was clear she was ready to take off in an instant. Toothless finally arrived on the scene, and from the way he stopped and made ready to intervene but did not immediately act, he too was waiting to see what Nóttleiðtogi wanted. He probably would have been happier with Maour on his back, but it wasn't like Maour was unprotected now, even if not by Toothless personally.

Nóttleiðtogi's demeanor had changed by now and had calmed down a bit. From what Maour had seen, he doubted that was anything but a facade.

'I did know that.' Nóttleiðtogi admitted again. 'You told us all the barest of details. It has not… convinced me, I suppose.'

Maour snorted. "You say that as if you'd believe it anyway."

'I gave you a chance.' Nóttleiðtogi replied. 'When my mate suggested we let you stay, I did not reject it out of hand, no matter how much I wanted to.' It sounded like an excuse.

"And the part that lets me bring in more people if you guys like them?" Maour inquired. Now was as good a time as he was going to get to find out why they had done that. Nóttleiðtogi did not have any obvious reason for that seemingly contradictory decision.

'At the time it was intended as simply an empty promise.' Nóttleiðtogi answered, his tone unreadably neutral. 'I was sure you'd betray us within days, and we needed something to make the more sympathetic families believe it was a fair trade.'

"And now?"

'Now…' Nóttleiðtogi paused, seeming to truly consider it. 'I see two paths of possible truth. In one, the far more likely, you are a manipulator and a killer biding his time, a poison lurking among us.'

"Nope." Maour shrugged. "Really not true at all."

'And so you would like me to believe the other path, that you are truly an aberration, a positive one.' Nóttleiðtogi growled. 'There is no way for you to prove yourself outright, none that I could believe. A cunning planner would easily take any chance to prove himself innocent.'

"So basically," Maour said with a sigh, "nothing I say or do will ever prove my good intentions, because you will see everything as further manipulation."

'Exactly.' Nóttleiðtogi nodded. 'But I can catch you out. One lie, one mistake, is all I need. Avoid me and leave this island if you want to live. I will catch you out.'

That made Maour mad, and he knew Toothless felt the same, judging by the way his brother was growling loudly. A crazy idea struck Maour.

"You know what, no." Maour smiled. "You think you will catch me in a lie or discover my,' and here he put as much sarcasm as he could muster into his voice, "true intentions? You're the best dragon for the job?"

'Yes.' Nóttleiðtogi glared at Maour. 'It is only a matter of time.'

"Well then," Maour said slowly, "how can I help you?"

There was silence for a moment.

'What are you saying?' Toothless asked, sounding slightly shocked, while eyeing Nóttleiðtogi warily.

"Nóttleiðtogi, you say I should avoid you if I want to stay because I cannot possibly conceal my true nature from you." Maour knew this was a risk. "Let's meet up then, as often as you like. That should speed the process up, shouldn't it?" Yes, he knew it was really stupid to be volunteering to spend time around a dragon who wanted him dead, but it was clear he needed to defuse Nóttleiðtogi's hatred before it got him killed simply because Nóttleiðtogi seized upon some insignificant detail as an excuse to attack. At least this way, Maour could be somewhat in control of the situation… and have Toothless with him, because there was no way he was doing this without backup in the future.

Nóttleiðtogi blinked. 'This is nothing more than another ploy.'

"I'm really not the plotting type, not at that level." Maour might, in other circumstances, have been amused by how highly Nóttleiðtogi thought of his intellect, in a twisted way. "The way I see it, even if this was a plot, it is one that does not benefit me at all."

'No,' Nóttleiðtogi admitted slowly, 'there is no possible reason for you to offer this, save as a last-ditch attempt to convince me, which has failed.'

'Good, so you don't-' Toothless began, but Nóttleiðtogi cut him off with a very dark rumble of amusement.

'No, I accept,' Nóttleiðtogi announced. 'This will indeed speed things along. I will ask questions of you, and you will answer.' He met Maour's eyes. 'Lies become harder and harder to maintain under any circumstances, but with a dragon who is exceptionally good at smelling not only the truth, but emotions too?' At that, a vicious look crossed Nóttleiðtogi's face. 'I am very good at that, which you cannot possibly have known. You have maneuvered yourself into a corner.'

Maour kept his face blank. That was an unexpected development, if not a totally impossible one. He had never thought much about what he had assumed was just something dragons could do sometimes, smelling the truth, or lack thereof, on a person. It made sense that there might be more if one developed the skill, though there had to be some limitation, or Nóttleiðtogi would be using it right now. If Nóttleiðtogi spoke the truth, and Maour really had been what the dragon suspected, it would have been game over.

As things were, Maour really didn't mind. It might even make things easier. "Cool. So, when and where?"

Nóttleiðtogi froze, the sly expression slipping off of his face. His tail, which had been waving angrily, hit the ground, in what Maour thought might be the Fury equivalent of jaw-dropping. At length, he recovered, and managed a neutral tone. 'The top of the mountain. Let us say three nights from now.'

'Why so long?' Toothless growled, glaring at Nóttleiðtogi. 'Why not tomorrow night? Why not now?'

'I have my reasons,' Nóttleiðtogi replied, 'and you are not one to question them.'

'You know what I think?' Toothless had broken his silence and seemed in no mood to back down now that he had. 'I think you can't smell anything like that, and you're just going to claim you do.'

'Do you?' Nóttleiðtogi rumbled in amusement, a threatening sound. 'Ask around. You can even bring someone else to witness the unmasking of your dangerous pet for what it truly is. Bring Skuggi. He knows what I can do, and I would rather like for him to see the truth first hand.' With that, Nóttleiðtogi turned and walked away, into the cave entrance they had been standing by, disappearing around a corner.

'He likes to run away once he's made his point,' Toothless grumbled. 'I don't understand him at all.'

"Agreed." Nóttleiðtogi's actions seemed to either contradict each other… or to work perfectly in accordance to some master plan none of them knew about. Even the dragon's moods and words didn't feel consistent.

'He isn't making any sense to me either if it's any consolation.' Von shivered. 'But I don't know him that well.'

"I think we need to talk to someone who does," Maour decided.

'I do not like that at all.' Shadow, Maour's adoptive father, paced in front of his three children. Cloey was not present at the moment. 'Tell me exactly what he proposed.'

'Maour is supposed to meet him on top of the mountain three nights from now.' Toothless growled. 'Nóttleiðtogi will ask him questions, and Maour is supposed to answer them.'

'Nóttleiðtogi said he'd be able to smell the truth,' Von added worriedly, 'but he doesn't seem…'

'Sane?' Toothless supplied. 'He doesn't smell crazy, but it's hard to tell.'

"That's another thing, can someone explain how that works?" Maour added. "I would assume no one would ever lie if you guys can just smell lies."

'It's complicated,' Shadow answered quietly. 'We can if conditions are just right. If we're downwind, if there aren't any other strong smells, and really if we get lucky. It's not reliable, but if one can get it, it is never wrong.'

'So that's why he wants to meet on top of the mountain.' Toothless elaborated upon seeing the lost look on Maour's face. 'No distracting smells up that high, and it will be easy to stay downwind.'

'You forget to mention that it will give Maour nowhere to run, and basically trap him up there,' Shadow added sadly. 'Togi is thorough. He expects Maour to have Toothless and apparently myself with him, but he does not see that as an avenue of escape.'

"Because if I needed to escape, you both wouldn't want to help me." Maour understood that much.

'Yes,' Shadow sighed wearily. 'This was going to happen eventually. One cannot live on an island without encountering a fourth of its inhabitants.'

"I still wish I hadn't run into Joy-"

Shadow flinched and cut Maour off. 'No! You are not in their favor to begin with, you cannot afford to refer to her as such if she has not told you to. They need one excuse, no matter how flimsy.'

"Is it really that big a deal?!" Maour really hoped he couldn't be attacked for using someone's nickname without permission.

'No, it is not, but they need an excuse, not a good reason.' Shadow shook his head in frustration. 'Apologies can be made for overreactions, but apologies will not bring you back from the dead, and they know that. Any insult could be the only thing they need to act.'

'Then why didn't Nóttleiðtogi kill him tonight before we got there?' Toothless didn't seem to like the question he had asked. 'Surely that was an excuse.'

'It was, but Togi is not evil, just… misguided. He truly believes Maour is a threat, and to his mind, it is better to get us all to agree, to prevent future mistakes of this kind.' Shadow spoke sadly. 'He always looks at things long-term, planning three steps ahead if at all possible. It is a way of coping, for him.'

"So what was he doing with letting me stay here at all?" Maour still didn't get that.

'Very likely he intended to let you doom yourself by staying here. Again, he wants all of us to see the folly in this entire scenario. By that same strategy, he has made it all the more clear that we have two options. Keep all humans out, or let more in. That was the point in his amendment to the conditions of your stay.'

"To make sure this all ends, one way or the other." Maour felt somewhat ill. "To make sure that however he got rid of me, it would be permanent, and an acknowledged mistake that would never be repeated." That made much more sense. "But he's still acting weird."

'My fault, I'm afraid. I told him to be prepared for all scenarios, including that in which you were exactly as you claimed. He might be trying to remain neutral, but it isn't working.' Shadow glanced down at the cavern floor. 'I don't know if that will help your case, but he wants me there as a witness for that reason. To prove that he was right, even while remaining neutral, which probably only means not killing you immediately.'

"So now what?" Maour asked nervously.

'Assuming you have nothing to hide,' and Shadow cut off Toothless's protest before it could begin with a sharp glance, 'which I believe is the truth, you are not in a large amount of danger. Togi is good with twisting words, but he will have nothing to twist, and if he gets any information from your scent, it might even convince him. That is unlikely, but possible.'

Maour sighed in relief.

'In the meantime, I suggest a few things.' Shadow laughed before elaborating. 'Spend time with the other families besides his. Go visit the Eldurs. They might storm our section of the caves if you don't do that soon anyway, knowing their thirst for knowledge.'

"That doesn't sound too bad…" Maour mused.

Von groaned. 'You don't know the Eldurs. Good luck with that.'

'Also,' Shadow continued, 'join some of the games of the younger Furies if you can do so without running into any of the Nótts. That will make it clear, hopefully, that you are not averse to making friends. Togi might take the fact that you've mostly stayed around our family as suspicious.'

"Okay…" Maour hesitated, unsure if what he wanted to ask would be uncalled for. "I don't want to be rude, but… why are you friends with Nóttleiðtogi?"

Shadow hesitated, seeming to be taking a moment to form a coherent reply. 'We are friends for many reasons. This is a less than ideal outgrowth of how Togi's past has affected him and is not normal. It hurts to see him so outraged and afraid like this, because I know it is not how he wants to be.' After a moment's pause, Shadow continued. 'He is normally much less aggressive, and we share much in common. I see my own reaction in him if Nóttskarpur had taken my mate's place in this entire thing. You,' he looked at Maour, 'are quite good at proving your good intentions if you are given a chance, but your mother made me give you that chance. Togi has not had such a push, because while Nóttskarpur is not against you by default, she is not so sure of you as to push Togi.'

That made some sense, though Maour really hadn't seen much that Togi held in common with Shadow so far. "So he's not a bad person, just…" From the way everyone who knew spoke of him, and what Nóttleiðtogi had said earlier, it almost seemed like he was… "traumatized?"

Shadow nodded. 'Exactly.'

"What happened?" Besides losing his mother, father, and brother to humans. Maybe that was it.

'That is not my story to tell.' Shadow warbled apologetically. 'He only told me when I swore I would not share it without permission. The adults of this pack all know because we all approached him and asked, but none of us will spread the tale. That was his request.'

'Great, so Maour might say something that seems innocent but actually sets Nóttleiðtogi off.' Toothless did not sound happy.

'It is a possibility,' Shadow conceded. 'That is another reason you and I will both be there.'

"Well, we have a few nights before that happens." Maour wanted to think about something else. He didn't feel like worrying over the inevitable. "So, Toothless, want to go meet the Eldurs? It's not like there's any reason to wait." Maybe doing something would help take his mind off of it.

'Sure, let's go.' Toothless glanced over at Von. 'Were you serious about not coming?'

'Yes.' Von shivered. 'I can remember literally falling asleep, Eldurfjall talked so long. You have fun with that.'

The trip to the Eldur section of the caverns was short, as it was just a few minutes of travel through the cavern system. Maour and Toothless were ambushed the moment they stepped foot inside.

It was not an ambush of violence and danger, more one of pure surprise. Maour and Toothless found themselves surrounded by red-eyed Furies, all of whom were watching intently. There were four, at the moment.

"Hey, we came to introduce ourselves," Maour began, very unnerved by how quickly they had been intercepted, and by the fact that none of the Furies spoke.

'Yeah, and can you back off a little?' Toothless added with an uncomfortable flick of his tail. 'Plenty of room in the cave.'

'Eldurhjarta, Eldurberg?' One of the Furies said suddenly. 'Report.'

'I hear and understand the human,' a male Fury said.

'As do I,' a female added.

'Good, good.' The one who had asked the question poked at Maour with a claw. 'And we have ruled out a dragon in disguise, a small one hidden on him that speaks for him?'

Maour's jaw dropped even as he dodged the harmless poke. That was a theory he never would have come up with.

'Yes, his mouth moves in time with his words, in the way you said humans speak.' The female asserted. 'Too perfect to be fake.'

'So I can see.' The male snorted. 'Next, we need to-'

'Fjall!' A new voice called out, making all four of the Furies around Maour and Toothless flinch. The voice was female, and she sounded angry. 'What are you doing?!'

The male visibly wilted, his ears drooping. 'We were just-'

'I know what you were doing, it was a rhetorical question.' A fifth red-eyed Fury came into view, emerging from a side-cavern. 'But you know the rules. No experimenting on others without their permission.'

'We needed to be sure what it says really comes from the mind of a human,' the dragon Maour assumed was Eldurfjall whined.

"Totally human," Maour supplied helpfully.

'I know that, dear.' The female snapped at the other dragons. 'Show some respect! Stop crowding them!'

With that, three of the four Furies slunk away, retreating to the edges of the cavern. The female growled quietly at them as they did. 'Eldurberg, Eldurvatn, Eldurhjarta. You all know that your father goes… overboard. Why do you not stop him?'

'Well, he had a point this time,' one complained. 'We needed to know.'

'And you did not think to ask the human politely first, Eldurvatn? That is no excuse.' The female who Maour assumed was the mother of the family seemed quite frustrated. 'You all know we treat others with respect.'

There was no response to that, all four Furies looking quite embarrassed. Toothless shuffled uncertainly, clearly not sure what to do or say. Maour wracked his brain for the name of the Eldur Matriarch. Cloey had told him, hadn't she, that first night..?

'Are you Eldurský?' Toothless asked respectfully.

'Well he certainly isn't,' Eldurský snorted, casting a glance at her mate, who looked no less chastened than the others. 'They mean well, but sometimes they get… overenthusiastic.'

"I know the type," Maour responded, thinking of Fishlegs. "We came to-"

'To sate my family's curiosity before they took matters into their own paws?' Eldurský purred at them both. 'A smart move. It was a struggle to convince them to wait until you two came to us.'

'Both of us?' Toothless seemed surprised. 'Why me?'

'Your story was good, as an introduction,' the female Fury who had yet to be introduced said, 'but there's so much more!'

'What was that volcanic nest like?'

'The Queen, I want to know all about her!'

'Don't forget the-'

'Quiet!' Eldurský roared, the sound echoing throughout the caves. 'As you can see,' she cast a heavy stare at each of her children in turn, 'we have questions.'

Maour was beginning to understand why Von hadn't come along. "We'll try to answer as many as we can. But we do kind of want to go home by dawn." It wasn't even midnight yet, but the way things were looking, that might be a time limit for the Eldurs.

'Then we'll be quick,' Eldurský declared. 'You two might wish to make yourselves comfortable.'

'Von?' Cloey wandered into the cave, wondering where her children had ended up on this particular night. Even though they had been avoiding the other Furies, the three managed to roam quite a large portion of the island. The family section of the caves was just the best place to start looking. She wanted to talk to Von, to catch up at least a little with her daughter. They had spoken before, of course, but over a decade in missed time could not be recovered in a week.

Odd, no one was there. Usually Skuggi was around. Maybe Von was at her pond. Judging by the scent trail leading from the cave, that was likely. Cloey was glad her daughter had a place of calm away from the caves. That was good for anyone, to have a place they could go when they needed solitude. For Von though, it seemed solitude had been in abundance. Still, maybe they would all be there.

She left the caves, and in a moment of spontaneity decided to run there, instead of flying. It would be fun. Fun was important, after years of miserable enslavement. Now that she could, she rarely missed a chance to enjoy herself, when there was no reason not to.

Because of this, Cloey happened to approach the pond from an angle that could not be seen, hidden by the trees. When she heard more than one dragon's voice, both female, she slowed to a stop.

Von had said she had friends, but Cloey didn't really know them. This was a good chance to see her daughter in her normal life, without the awkwardness Cloey's presence would cause. Maybe it was spying, but it was a harmless endeavor brought on by curiosity. Cloey crept to a place where she could listen and observe.

Von was lounging by the pond, looking almost half-asleep, though there was a sharpness to her eyes that dispelled that particular illusion if one looked.

Another Fury, one with grey eyes, stood across from her, talking. Her tail swayed slowly, a subtle motion that never stopped.

Who was this? Cloey vaguely remembered word of a female hatchling in the days before her fateful disappearance. Because of the insular nature of raising a hatchling, she had never gotten to see the newest pack member. What had Skarpur called her?

'Einfari, how are things?' Von sounded casual. It appeared Einfari must have just arrived.

'Crazy, really.' Einfari sounded tense. 'My brother is in a towering rage half the time, and who knows where the rest of the night.' She sat on her hind legs, evidently relaxed. 'Mom is refusing to agree with anything dad says we should do, and dad looks like he's going to fall over and sleep for five nights straight, he's so tired and stressed.'

'What about your sister?' Von flicked her ears. 'Don't tell me she's finally picked up on the family subtlety and is hiding her opinions.'

'Never that,' Einfari laughed. 'She's the reason Nóttreiði is away half the nights… although something is different today. Dad took her aside to talk to her, for no reason I could see.'

'I might know. You'll hear about it soon enough,' Von admitted quickly. 'But how are you? I haven't seen you since…'

'Since that pest moved into your caves.' Einfari growled. 'Dad's doing. We're not allowed anywhere near the Svartur caves, and I've only barely gotten permission to come here. He doesn't seem to remember that you like this place.'

'Well, it has been a while…' Von said slowly.

'But enough about my family's overdramatic implosion,' Einfari said, her tone serious. 'Are you safe?'

'Entirely,' Von responded lightly.

'Von, I'm serious.' Einfari seemed troubled, judging by the way her tail was thrashing, sweeping a section of the ground by the pond clear of twigs and leaves. 'It doesn't know where you sleep, does it?'

'No, he sleeps out in the main cave with Toothless.'

Cloey had to hold in a chuckle at that funny name for Kappi. It had caught on with Von, which was not something she had ever seen coming. Cloey and Skuggi were the only ones who called him Kappi, and even Skuggi had taken to calling him Toothless on occasion. It seemed that name just stuck with him.

'Don't let it find out.' Einfari began pacing in front of the still apparently half-asleep Von. 'If it asks to see your scale collection, don't let it-'

'Einfari, neither of them even knows I save my shed scales. I don't think even dad remembers.' Von raised her head, giving up the pretense of relaxation. 'I'm fine.'

'If it threatens you, or even looks at you funny,' Einfari continued, seemingly unaware of Von's rising agitation, 'come to us, dad will tear it apart faster than-'

'Stop.' Von rose and snarled at Einfari, who froze, stunned. 'I thought you at least were not blinded by your family's history. Nóttreiði is blind, but you were always better. Why are you following his lead now, of all times?'

'Dad thinks-'

'So? Think for yourself.' Von pawed at the ground. 'I've spent plenty of time with him, and he's nice. He doesn't act like anything we've ever been told, he talks, he likes me-'

'He's tricking you!' Einfari growled. 'Sly words, and a dragon already brainwashed. He's gotten your brother wrapped around his paw, somehow!'

'Einfari,' Von pleaded. 'Stop repeating what your father probably rants all night every night, and listen to someone who actually knows what they're talking about, who's currently sharing close quarters with the human in question.'

That hit Einfari hard. She glared at Von, even as her eyes widened in hurt. 'I-'

'He doesn't care.' Von was the one pacing now. 'He doesn't know where I sleep because he doesn't need to know, and therefore doesn't want to. He gave me every opportunity to just outright reject him, simply because of a mistake mom made. If he is trying to trick me, then he's the most perfect actor I've ever seen, and not even the Myrkurs can hold a flame to him. I don't believe anyone can hold a perfect facade for over a week, spending every waking moment with us.'

'But it clearly is-' Einfari began.

'He. He is not all-powerful, not the perfect manipulator.' Von sighed, the anger leaving her. 'If a random human who is not even an adult can be as dangerous as your father claims this one is, our species would never survive. They're stupid, all the stories agree, and they kill dragons. He is not one, why do you still assume the other applies?'

'I…' Einfari couldn't seem to meet Von's hard gaze. 'I don't know.'

'So please, stop this. It's bad enough we have your father to deal with, I can't take it if you just up and join him, without even trying to think for yourself.' Von warbled quietly. 'Please?'

'I can't go against my father…' Einfari began, 'but I don't have to help him either.' It was said as if that was truly the best Einfari could do, and both seemed to accept that.

'Did he send you here?' Von sighed. 'Perhaps right before taking your sister aside to talk to her?'

'Yes, actually. He wanted me to make sure you were okay…' Einfari stiffened. 'What happened?'

'I kept your father from killing him for doing nothing worse than listening to your sister, who brought him to your caves, without telling him where they were going.'

'What?!' Einfari's eyes grew wide, and Cloey could feel her own doing the same. When had that happened?!

'Before you ask, no, he did not seek out Nótthljóður,' Von said quickly, 'she found him.'

'Von…' Einfari did not seem at all calmed by that. 'We have a problem.'

'Aside from the obvious?' Von asked dryly.

'When Nóttreiði finds out, he'll snap!' Einfari spread her wings, looking panicked. 'He's sworn to kill the human if it even sets eyes on her!'

'Not good,' Von breathed out. 'Maour and Toothless are in the Eldur caves, or leaving them. They'll have been there for a while, and Eldurský won't let her family keep them there all night.' She too rose, and the two Furies sprang into the air with an urgency that fit the situation. Both in the defense of their respective brothers. Maour was in danger, and if Nóttreiði killed him, the rage-filled Fury would be in severe trouble, to the point where Cloey truly wasn't sure what would happen. Breaking a pack decree, especially when doing so involved murder, wasn't something they had any precedent for.

With that, Cloey rose and launched into the air herself, beating a course for the mountain. Maour was in danger, and if she found Nóttreiði had harmed him at all, she might just ensure the Nótt Fury did not end up facing justice… because she would have already dealt it out. With lethal force, if he killed Maour.

That same instinct that ended the Changewing was coming up, and though Nóttreiði didn't know it, he was treading on thin ice.

'So it can only be done by our kind,' Toothless concluded. 'The Queen tried with all of her thralls, and we were the only ones capable of it.'

'That is not entirely certain,' Eldurfjall added. 'It only rules out the species she had on call.'

Maour stifled a yawn. "So pretty much all of the more common species. Quite a few." They had been talking for hours, and while Eldurský had brought order to the chaos, it was still quite an intensive round of questioning, and the Eldur Matriarch had been no less enthusiastic.

'And we know it can be done by an adolescent,' Eldurhjarta added, 'so age is not a factor, apparently.'

'It may still be limited to those past fledgling stage,' Eldurfjall argued.

"How many stages are there?" Maour asked what he had been wondering. If anything, now was a good time to ask the obvious questions, because if there was anything an Eldur seemed to like, it was explaining something. Very much like Fishlegs.

'Four or five,' Eldurberg replied, shifting his wings. 'Hatchling, Fledgling, adolescent, adult, and maybe Titan. We're still not sure about that.'

'Why aren't you sure?' Toothless warbled curiously. 'It seems like the stages of life of our own species would be pretty easy to check.'

'The oldest one in our pack is Myrkureyðileggingu,' Eldurvatn supplied, 'and he's old, but he hasn't passed into any sort of Titan stage that we can see.'

"Then how do you know it exists?" That seemed to be an important question.

Eldurfjall and Eldurský both seemed to retreat for a fraction of a second, their faces displaying a quick flash of some undefinable emotion.

Eldurský responded slowly, 'we've seen it, once. Only once. And none of us ever knew how old she was.' There was a weight of some kind to her words and tone, one that stopped either Toothless or Maour from asking further.

'So…' Eldurberg began, 'four or five. Hatchling lasts for three years, Fledgling until about twelve or so, and adolescent until thirty.'

"Thirty?!" Maour laughed. "That's a really long childhood."

'Humans are different?' Eldurhjarta edged closer.

"Adults by age fifteen or so," Maour replied.

'But are they adults in mind as well as body?' Eldurfjall shrugged. 'We reach physical maturity shortly after age twelve. Mental maturity is what we call adult, and that really doesn't come until much later… or in some cases never.'

"Well…" Maour thought about it. "If you look at it that way… I'm pretty sure thirty is about right for us too." As was the never growing up part.

'Okay, next, what-' Eldurfjall began, before Eldurský lightly tapped him with a wing.

'It's been quite a while dear, I think we've kept them long enough.' She didn't seem entirely happy with that either. 'Though we have many more questions.'

'We can come back another time,' Toothless quickly offered, standing as he did.

'You'll see us around, I'm sure,' Eldurský mused, 'but yes, that would be good.'

"Well then see you all later. It was nice meeting all of you!" Maour called over his shoulder, as Toothless subtly nudged him back towards the main cavern system. "Bud, stop looking so anxious to leave."

'Don't say that when you're just as anxious to get somewhere we can run, or fly, or something!' Toothless hissed.

"Very true," Maour admitted. They were both not at all used to sitting around and talking for the better part of the night. If he had energy to burn, then Toothless definitely did.

The two walked into the main cavern, angled towards the Svartur section of the caves. No one was around at the moment.

'I'm thinking we run from one end of the island to the other… five times,' Toothless decided, 'and then fly until dawn.'

"Or maybe we cross the island once and then think about it again?" Maour offered.

'Well, we could-' Toothless stiffened at the exact moment a subtle scrape on claws was heard.

Time seemed to slow for Maour, who had a sudden sense of intense danger. He did not object when Toothless sheathed his teeth and lunged for him, grabbing him with his mouth.

Maour couldn't make much sense of what he was seeing, being half-dragged by Toothless as he was, but he definitely saw the black blur dropping where he had been standing and tackling Toothless. Maour was dropped and rolled to the side, hitting his head on the ground as he did.

Sounds echoed through the air, snarls and grunts, though far more grunts of pain than snarls. Maour tried to stand, but his vision was only slowly returning to normal and he was too dizzy to really do anything except wait… and hope Toothless could fend off their attacker.

**_Author's Note:_ ** **To the guest who asked if I am Finnish…**

**I really don't know much about my ancestry and haven't felt the need to know. Maybe? It's entirely possible.**


	30. Chapter 30

**_Author's Note:_ ** **So, where were we? Oh, right, Toothless and Nóttreiði in combat, Maour unable to see what's going on, help coming, all of that. Not that bad of a cliffhanger, right? If it's any consolation, I didn't intend to leave it there, but the last chapter would have been more than 10,000 words if I had finished the scene. 8,000 is my limit for this story, maybe 9,000 if necessary.**

**As for why this is being published three days early? I'm not sure if I could publish it Thursday as planned, and I figured early was better than late. The next chapter will show up as normal though, so there will be a slightly longer gap between this and the next. Oh well.**

Maour blinked furiously, ignoring the splitting headache, trying to make the world come into focus and stop spinning. That wasn't an easy task. When Toothless had tossed Maour out of the way, he had hit his head pretty hard. How long Maour had been totally disoriented was anyone's guess, but as he found his way back to the present reality, he heard nothing by silence. What had happened?

' _Try_.'

That had been Toothless.

'Please, try again.' Toothless still, speaking with more venom than Maour had ever heard. 'We're going to make this very clear.'

What in the world was his brother saying? Maour's vision was clearing, and he could see…

Another thump, a grunt of pain.

'Had enough yet?'

Maour could see Toothless, standing between him and Nóttreiði's prone form. As he watched, Nóttreiði shakily regained his footing, keeping his weight off of one of his front paws, and charged unsteadily.

Toothless almost casually side-stepped and hip-checked the other dragon, slamming him into the base of the pillar. The impact could be heard across the cavern, echoing and preceding another grunt of pain.

That was what the sounds had been. Repeated failures on Nóttreiði's part to even pass Toothless.

'Nóttreiði!' Nótteinfari appeared at the edge of the cavern, coming in from the Nótt section, followed by Von, of all people.

'Stay out of this,' Toothless snarled angrily. 'This is between me and the one who has once again attempted to kill Maour.'

That stopped Nótteinfari from coming any closer, but not from speaking. 'Nóttreiði, stop this!' She must have seen Nóttreiði's latest attempt. It was likely she would have attacked, but it was clear that Toothless was not the aggressor, even now.

Nóttreiði didn't seem to hear her. He rose once more, shaking his head, and spat a plasma blast at Toothless. It was weak but fast, and if Toothless dodged it would hit Maour behind him.

Toothless didn't even flinch, taking the blast to his side, grunting but otherwise appearing unharmed by the weak scorching. Then he fired back a small blast of his own, one that hit Nóttreiði's side, just above the stomach.

Nóttreiði wheezed out, crumpling to the ground, having had the wind knocked out of him.

Toothless quickly walked over and placed a paw on the side of Nóttreiði's neck, pinning him. 'I think I've made my first point,' he growled down at the other dragon.

'Svarturkappi!' Cloey called from another side of the central cavern. 'What-'

'Everyone, stay back,' Toothless repeated angrily. 'You too mom. I haven't said what needs to be said yet, and this is the best chance I'm ever going to get.'

Cloey took a step back. 'Is Maour okay?'

Toothless blinked, looking back at Maour. 'Are you?'

"Dizzy, but yeah." Maour glanced at Nóttreiði, who was glaring at him. "What are you going to do?"

'Watch.' Toothless turned back to meet Nóttreiði's angry eyes.

Maour noticed that Shadow was restraining Nóttleiðtogi in another corner of the cave, and by the looks of it arguing with him. From two other cave entrances, more dragons watched, Eldurs and Myrkurs. Everything said and done here would be seen by all.

'You have attacked Maour… again.' Toothless glared down at Nóttreiði. 'Why?'

'It... ' Nóttreiði faltered, clearly aware of how weak what he was about to admit would sound.

'Because he talked to your little sister?' Toothless asked in a cold voice. 'Let us be clear. Is that why, yes or no?' It made sense, as that was the only thing that had happened that could trigger Nóttreiði's attempt. Toothless pressed down a bit harder on Nóttreiði's neck, not hard enough to hurt, but hard enough to be less than comfortable.

'Yes,' Nóttreiði rasped.

'So in your eyes,' Toothless continued, 'a sibling of yours encountering one of mine in a completely harmless way is grounds for you to kill the sibling in question?' There was an odd tension in the air, and in the strange way Toothless phrased that. Maour didn't like it at all.

'Yes.' Nóttreiði didn't seem to understand it either.

'That is right in your eyes?' Toothless's voice was freezing now, if it had been cold before. The cavern was totally silent, even Nóttleiðtogi now quiet.

Maour glanced over at Nóttleiðtogi, only to see a look of complete horror on the older dragon's face. What was everyone hearing, that Maour didn't understand?

'Yes.' Nóttreiði spat that defiantly.

'Fool.' Toothless snarled in Nóttreiði's face. 'By your own logic, it is right for me to kill Nótthljóður right now.'

A moment passed in which Nóttreiði quite clearly worked his way through Toothless's logic. The moment Nóttreiði realized Toothless was right was also clearly marked, the moment Nóttreiði started roaring and struggling, where before he had lain defeated and pinned.

Toothless held him down with some effort. 'If I were you, that is what I would now do,' he shouted over Nóttreiði's increasingly panicked screaming.

"Toothless-" Maour began, horrified by the suggestion.

Toothless threw a subtle glance Maour's way, his eyes frustrated but not murderous. He wasn't serious. Maour cut himself off once he realized that.

Maour glanced over at Nóttleiðtogi, to gauge how the dragon was taking Toothless threatening his daughter. Oddly, Nóttleiðtogi was glaring, but nothing more. As if he knew Toothless wasn't going to do that.

Maour knew Toothless couldn't do that, wouldn't do that, but how did Nóttleiðtogi know? Maybe Nóttleiðtogi was just better at understanding Toothless's point to start with, why he had brought that comparison up at all.

'But I am not you,' Toothless whispered to Nóttreiði, only just loud enough for everyone else to hear. Nóttreiði slowed, his clearly futile struggles faltering.

'I am not you,' Toothless repeated. 'And I swear now, I will never lay a claw on Nótthljóður except in self-defense.'

'If you expect me to do the same, forget it.' Nóttreiði sneered at Toothless.

'No, I don't.' Toothless shifted, pinning Nóttreiði more securely. 'I expect you to swear to me that you won't hurt Maour in any way. And you will swear this personally, as you seem to have no problem with defying the decisions of the pack as a whole. That is the price you must now pay.'

'Or?' Nóttreiði snarled.

'Or we will see what attempted murder and breaking a pack decree means.' Toothless looked around the cave. 'Eldurfjall? What does that usually mean?'

Eldurfjall, who had been watching with wide eyes, started at being addressed. 'I don't know, it's never happened before. We sometimes do restitution in kind…'

'One of my family would be allowed to attack Nótthljóður, or more likely you since none of us is sick enough to attack a fledgling because her brother is an enraged idiot.' Toothless supplied for Nóttreiði's benefit.

'...or we might just banish Nóttreiði,' Eldurfjall continued, looking sickened by Toothless's words. 'I don't think we do executions, and we definitely don't do imprisonment, so that would be our only other option.'

'You'll never see her again. Never be able to protect her again.' Toothless said that sadly. 'Is that what you were willing to pay, just to kill Maour?'

Nóttreiði wordlessly flinched, his eyes now wide and panicked.

'I didn't think so. You just didn't think.' Toothless sighed, before stepping back and letting Nóttreiði up. 'So, what will it be?'

Nóttreiði stood shakily, clearly bruised and battered, favoring his front paw. He glared at Toothless, now completely ignoring Maour.

Maour was just trying not to faint with relief, now understanding what pushing Toothless past his breaking point looked like. It was a bit scary, though Maour couldn't fault his brother at all for how he had handled things. He knew he could intervene, could have at any point, but there was no real reason to. Toothless had everything in hand. Well, in paw.

'It will attack me, and you expect me to let it kill me?' Nóttreiði sounded incredulous.

'If that happened, which it won't, I would expect you to run, to get someone else to defend you,' Toothless said with a flat voice. 'In no situation will I tolerate you attacking him, or letting him be injured through inaction.' That was new. It almost sounded like Toothless was saying…

'I have to defend him?!' Nóttreiði yelled incredulously, and angrily. 'Not going to happen!'

'Too bad!' Toothless yelled right back, his tail thrashing the air behind him. 'That's the price you are going to pay, to be allowed to remain here at all!'

'I won't be banished, dad won't let-' Nóttreiði began.

'Do it. I cannot save you now.' Nóttleiðtogi glared at Nóttreiði. 'And this is not my punishment for your stupidity, it is his. Mine we will discuss later.'

Nóttreiði deflated, not looking anyone in the eye. 'Fine. I swear.'

'Tell us all exactly what you are swearing, Nóttreiði.' Toothless waited expectantly.

'I swear to not hurt the human, or let it be hurt when I can prevent it, for as long as you hold me to this.' Nóttreiði whined in defeat, completely humiliated. He was completely aware of how many pairs of eyes were watching, it seemed.

Maour felt a pang of pity for his attacker, as odd as that felt at first. But really, Nóttreiði was an aggressive, dangerous… older brother. It wasn't so much a murderous intent as a misplaced need to protect mixed with powerful hatred that Maour couldn't say was wrong in general, just in this specific case. Yes, Maour admitted to himself, he felt sorry for Nóttreiði. But what could he do to help the dragon who so clearly hated him?

"Nóttreiði," Maour spoke loudly and clearly, from the heart. What could he do to help Nóttreiði, in the future if not now? "For what it's worth, I will also defend Nótthljóður, and everyone else who lives here, with my life. I swear that now, to you." He might not be believed, but it was the truth, and a way to take some of the sting out of Nóttreiði's humiliation, by taking the attention off of him now.

'As if your word was worth anything,' Nóttreiði muttered.

'More than yours.' Toothless growled at Nóttreiði. 'He will hold to his word. Will you?'

'He had better,' Cloey growled from the sidelines. 'Next time, he won't be let off this easily.'

'It's not letting him off, Mom,' Toothless explained, 'it's just not throwing him out of his home because he has poor self-control.'

'He broke a pack decree, who says he won't break this too?' Cloey argued back. 'An oath he doesn't hold to is no punishment whatsoever.'

'He _will_ hold to this.' Nóttleiðtogi asserted in a dark voice. 'I will make sure of it. Nóttreiði, go to the cave and wait for me. Now.'

Maour really didn't like the tone Nóttleiðtogi was using. It reminded him of…

Stoick, almost, when he had screwed up in a particularly damaging way…

"Nóttleiðtogi, please don't hurt him." Maour blurted out without thinking. Stoick had never hit him, but that was not something Maour knew for sure Nóttleiðtogi also held to, and-

Nóttleiðtogi rounded on Maour, visibly stopping himself from doing more than growling. 'I do not lay a claw on my children! How dare you insinuate otherwise!'

'He could not know that, Togi,' Shadow intervened. 'Perhaps think about what he has said, and not what he accidentally implied about you.'

Nóttleiðtogi faltered, clearly doing just that. He left the central cavern without another word, glancing back at Maour as he did, his expression unreadable.

Maour and Toothless stood alone in the center of the cavern, next to the pillar, with dragons from all the other families staring at them.

"Did I hit my head so hard that I'm hallucinating all of this?" Maour asked no one in particular.

'Are you still dizzy?' Toothless asked worriedly. At that, the floodgates opened. Shadow and Cloey were the first there, Von not far behind. Eldurhjarta was also there, oddly.

Eldurhjarta cut over the noise of the group with an authoritative bark. 'Out of the way!'

For some reason, the others let her through. Maour stood to face her, a bemused expression sliding across his face. "What are you doing?"

Eldurhjarta sat on her back paws and held out a front paw. 'Watch my paw as it moves.' She didn't have a large range of motion, but this close it was enough to make Maour's eyes move from side to side.

He recognized this test, though he hadn't known dragons did it too. It worked off of the same principle, so it made sense both species might have independently developed it, but it was still a surprise.

'I'm the most knowledgeable about injuries and sickness,' Eldurhjarta absently explained. 'They interest me.' She abruptly slapped her tail on the ground, a painful-sounding crack echoing across the cavern. Maour wondered if she even felt it.

'No sensitivity to noise, his eyes follow fine, he seems normal in thought processes,' Eldurhjarta murmured to herself. 'Snarl.'

"What?"

'Snarl.' Eldurhjarta huffed impatiently. 'Bare your teeth, whatever you call it.'

"Smile," Maour supplied. He did.

'Good.' She shook her head. 'He's fine, though you should probably stop him from doing anything too strenuous for the rest of tonight.'

"So much for that run," Maour quipped.

'So what happened?' Shadow asked quietly. 'How close did he get?'

'Not close at all,' Toothless said neutrally. 'He's not a very skilled fighter, for some reason.'

'That's intentional,' a new voice supplied. Nóttskarpur had at some point also joined the crowd.

Toothless shrunk back a little, clearly worried about how Nóttreiði's mother was going to react to what had happened.

'We know he has anger issues,' Nóttskarpur continued, 'and it was a conscious decision to not teach him anything beyond the most basic rules of self-defense.' She warbled sadly. 'It appears that was a good decision. I apologize on his behalf, as no one else in my family would.'

'Oh.' Toothless looked down. 'I didn't hurt him too badly.'

'I know.' Nóttskarpur laughed sadly. 'You did not use your teeth or claws. I don't think it has occurred to Nóttreiði yet to wonder why.'

'It probably won't, if no one brings it up,' Cloey said in a prompting tone of voice.

'I will.' Nóttskarpur whined softly. 'I see this as my own failure, in a way. We have never been able to curb his temper, and now he has acted upon it.'

'What of Nóttleiðtogi?' Cloey inquired. 'How is he taking all of this when we are not around to see?'

'I am worried,' Nóttskarpur admitted. 'He is not sleeping and is so worked up he can't sit still. He doesn't listen to me when I tell him to relax.'

"My fault, I guess," Maour admitted.

'Possibly, but it is also his own doing.' Nóttskarpur shook her head. 'Whatever possessed you to suggest that meeting, it will at least put an end to this.'

'Hopefully,' Shadow agreed. 'Will you be there?'

'I think so,' Nóttskarpur said quickly, 'as it appears I might need to restrain Nóttreiði.'

"He's going to be there?!" Maour did not like that idea any more than Toothless, who was growling.

'Togi was yelling about him needing to learn self-control when I left, so I'm guessing it's a possibility. Don't worry, he will be kept in check.' With that, Nóttskarpur left the cavern.

"Things just keep getting better," Maour complained.

The rest of the night passed slowly, Maour confined to the family section of the caverns. Apparently, Cloey's parental instinct also included forcing her children to follow Eldurhjarta's advice when it was given. Toothless had to go out and run with Von instead. Maour settled for tagging along with Toothless's senses, which was a passable alternative.

The next night was more interesting. Von began the day on a high note.

'Really?' Toothless asked curiously. 'You're sure?'

'Apparently, the entire Nótt family is in some sort of family meeting today. Einfari was complaining about it last night, after the fight.'

"So I don't need to watch my back tonight," Maour mused. 'Anything interesting going on today?"

'Most of us are going to meet up and do something,' Von replied. 'The three Myrkur kids, Eldurhjarta and Eldurberg. Einfari would be there, but she can't. So the coast is clear.' Von warbled sadly. 'I think I'm getting through to her, but better safe than sorry for now.'

'So we can come?' Toothless asked. 'What do you guys normally do?'

'That depends on the day, but yeah, you can come.' Von grinned, having picked that expression up from Toothless. 'They've been asking about you two.'

"Well, let's go!" Maour sprang up. The three of them made their way out of the cave and into the sky.

Up in the air, Toothless faltered slightly, before regaining his control. 'Maour? Everything all right?'

"Yeah, I thought that was you." Maour looked back at the tailfin.

'Wasn't me, it was definitely your side of the tail,' Toothless replied worriedly. 'It's not messing up now, but that wasn't normal.'

"Maybe something got knocked aside or dented by the fight," Maour mused. He would have to check the whole saddle and tailfin. "Von, where are we going?" Hopefully, it was close. He didn't want to risk a messed-up tailfin more than he had to.

'Here.' Von dove down, dropping between two particularly large trees. Toothless followed suit.

Five Night Furies awaited their arrival, one of which Maour didn't remember meeting yet, another adolescent male Fury with yellow eyes. The moment Toothless touched down, Myrkursprenging and Myrkursprengja began talking.

'You fought Nóttleiðtogi and won?!' Myrkursprenging asked excitedly.

'What, no!' Toothless balked at the idea. 'It was Nóttreiði, not Nóttleiðtogi!'

'Told you, idiot.' Myrkursprengja swatted at Mykursprenging. 'Still, it must have been awesome. Eldurberg said you broke his front paw, whichever one of them it was.'

'What?' Toothless turned his attention to Eldurberg. 'I did?'

Eldurhjarta huffed angrily. 'Along with plenty of bruises and a nasty headache you probably caused by throwing him into the pillar. I treated him after Maour.' She glared at Eldurberg. 'And I've already told you not to talk about the injuries I treat. How is anyone supposed to trust me to handle more embarrassing injuries if they know you'll spread the news around?'

'But the Myrkurs didn't know what happened,' Eldurberg hastily explained, backing away from his irate sister. 'Only Myrkurheili saw, and he wanted them to pay him in fish to tell the story!'

'When we double-teamed him and pinned him he might have taken that offer back,' Muykursprengja admitted. 'And then mom made us stop asking.'

'We paid your brother for the information though!' Myrkursprenging added, with a mischievous twinkle in his eyes.

'What?!' Eldurhjarta slapped Eldurberg with her tail. 'That's even worse!'

'I'll give you half the fish…' Eldurberg offered weakly.

'Just never do it again,' Eldurhjarta growled angrily, 'and I'll resist the temptation to give you some injuries of your own.'

'Anyway,' Myrkursprenging interjected, 'it's Vængur's turn to decide what we play.' That seemed to be the shortened name of the new Myrkur Fury.

'Hide and Seek,' Myrkurvængur immediately announced. 'I'm not it.'

A round of similar exclamations immediately followed. Everyone stared at Maour and Toothless expectantly.

"Uh…" Maour didn't know how this game worked. If Vikings played something similar, he had never gotten to. Then again, he hadn't joined many group activities voluntarily, so that wasn't so strange.

'Well?' Myrkursprengja stared at them both expectantly. 'Whoever says "not it" first isn't it, and the other one is.'

'But what is "it" in this case?' Toothless sounded as confused as Maour felt.

'What, you've never played…' Myrkursprenging trailed off. 'Oh, right.'

Maour supposed it was pretty clear Toothless hadn't gotten the chance to play many games at the volcanic nest. It didn't sound like it had been a happy place.

'Okay, so this game,' Eldurhjarta began to explain, filling the silence, 'is one of chasing and hiding. Everyone except the seeker hides, and then the seeker, the one who is "it", tries to catch them. The last one caught wins, and when someone is caught they have to switch sides and help the seeker.'

'Is flying allowed?' Toothless sounded interested now.

'Yeah, but not too high, and you have to stay over the area we're playing in.' Eldurhjarta nodded towards the mountain. 'No passing the mountain, no going into the caves, and no passing the small stream,' she looked in the other direction, 'that's over that way.'

'Then Maour and I should count as one because neither of us can get into the air alone.' Toothless glanced up at Maour, who hadn't dismounted. 'Right?'

"Yeah, that's a good point." Maour smiled. "Which I guess makes both of us the seekers for now."

At that announcement, everyone scattered. Toothless turned in a slow circle. 'Are we supposed to wait for a while so they can hide?'

"I guess so." Maour laughed. "Let's talk strategy."

'Where is she?' Toothless was doing the mental equivalent of whispering as he crept through the underbrush.

It was the middle of the night, but the moon was full, so Maour was hardly at a disadvantage with his improved eyesight. The dense forest would prevent them from flying much, if at all, but up was certainly a direction his eyes wandered quite frequently as they could still climb trees.

Toothless was particularly interested in finding Von first because she was his sister, but there were five other targets to snoop out, so he kept his eyes open.

"I'm not sure," Maour whispered as quietly as he could. Hopefully, nobody heard him. Toothless could, through the mental link, and that was exactly what they were exploiting in their "divide and conquer" strategy of separating to find everyone.

Maour saw something. But he wasn't sure if that blob was a Fury, and if he moved to get closer they might see him. "Toothless, check my vision. Is that her?" Toothless might not be able to see any better from Maour's eyes, but it was a second opinion.

'Yup. Be careful. She's fast.'

Maour knew this very well. Von had had eleven years of practice in these very forests. But this time Maour had the element of surprise. He only had to tag her. He leaped from his hidden spot and ran at her as fast and as silently as he could.

She saw him coming and bolted. He smiled as he chased her through the forest. She was widening the gap, but he knew something she didn't.

Von looked back at him and grinned as she ran, an extremely smug look on her face. She might even have been considering taunting him, but at that moment she felt a change in the terrain under her paws. She looked down. Maour had chased her right to a moderately large river, the one the group had picked as the boundary for this game. He had managed to corner her. She looked downriver, the only direction she had left to run, and saw Toothless running towards her.

'No fair! Why'd you guys find me first?' Von whined.

Maour walked forward while she was distracted and tagged her. She looked at him with wide eyes.

"Anyone we tag has to help us tag out the others. So we went to find you first, to get your help." He shrugged.

'We don't know the forest, but you do.' Toothless sidled up next to her. He sat down on the bank of the stream.

Von's expression softened. 'In that case...' She abruptly hip-checked Toothless into the stream and Maour quickly followed thanks to her immediate tailspin. She purred at their shocked faces. 'I'll help. Next time, don't cheat by splitting up. Even if it was the only way you could catch me.' She was laughing softly now.

"Who called you shy?" Maour grumbled, getting out of the water. "I'd like to have a word with them."

Von laughed softly. 'You're family, all bets are off.'

"Cold, wet family at the moment," Maour replied, watching Toothless dry himself off with a plasma blast, as he had done so long ago in the cove.

Von responded by flaming the ground in front of her, baking the muddy grass. 'Here.'

"That works, but I'm not catching anyone like this." Maour quickly scrambled onto the now pleasantly warm ground in front of Von. It wasn't particularly cold out, but it was the middle of the night and somewhat windy. He shivered despite the warm ground.

'What are you doing now?' Von stared down at Maour.

"What?" The wind rose for a moment. "Oh, this. The wind is cold too."

Von sat on her hind legs, looking concerned. 'Is it bad? Here.' She brought her wings around to block the wind.

"Much better. A wet and cold human doesn't last very long," Maour quipped.

'Like a fledgling,' Von observed, sounding entirely serious.

'That sounds right,' Toothless chuckled.

"I resent that." After a moment, Maour had an idea. "Von, you know this area and the other Furies…"

'Yeah.' Von shook her head. 'But it's my fault you're too cold to play, so I'm not leaving.'

"Toothless," Maour grinned, calling out to his brother, who was watching, "You carry on. We'll advise you from here." There were no rules against that.

'On it!' Toothless ran into the forest.

What followed was fun, even from the sidelines. Maour watched and relayed to Von what Toothless was doing, and she supplied information, such as preferred hiding spots and tactics. Toothless couldn't fly, but none of the other Furies tried to flee by air, the trees usually being too dense to do so effectively. That, combined with Toothless's tactic of moving through the trees, high above the ground, easily smoked out Eldurhjarta and Eldurberg, who had both chosen to hunker down in thick patches of bushes. With their help, the Myrkurs were quickly found, though catching them was more difficult.

By the end of that round, Maour was dry enough to rejoin the game. The night passed quickly, time falling to the simple and light-hearted activity.

It had been a long time since Maour played with a group of people, none of whom disliked him. Really, the last time had probably been back before Snotlout had been old enough to hate him. At least a decade. That, combined with the fact that no one seemed to care that they were all teenagers, made the games even more fun.

The specter of the looming confrontation with Nóttleiðtogi did not bother Maour that day, or the next when they repeated the activity, the Nótts nowhere to be found. It was a calm night, and hopefully one that would not preceed another storm.

The night of the confrontation was still and quiet, almost as if the island was collectively holding its breath. The moon was clear in the sky, and the wind a constant flow of cold air.

"He never really specified a time," Maour noted to the tense cave. "Any idea when we should show up?"

'Who's going?' Von asked anxiously.

'Well, we know most of the Nótts will be there,' Shadow mused. 'How about we all show up? As a show of _silent_ support.' He glanced over at Toothless. 'Unless they attack, this is a matter of words, between Maour and Nóttleiðtogi.'

'Unless, he says.' Toothless nodded. 'We should all go, you're right.'

'That reminds me,' Cloey added, 'did anyone tell people that we adopted Maour?'

'Nope.' Toothless grinned. 'Never crossed my mind.'

'Neither did I.' Von shifted uncomfortably. 'It didn't feel like something the Nótts needed to know yet. I'm going to tell Einfari after this though, if that's okay.' She didn't seem happy with having kept a secret from her friend.

'That should be fine, Von. So it appears that it is not yet a known fact.' Shadow flicked his ears, heading for the exit of the cave. 'I am unsure as to what use it will be, but we should keep it that way during this confrontation, unless Maour needs it known.'

"How would that help?" Maour really didn't see what his adoption could do except to convince Nóttleiðtogi that he was even more dangerous, manipulative enough to get that close to the Svartur family.

'It probably will not,' Shadow admitted, 'I am firing into mist. Really, there is nothing more we can do except show up and see how it plays out.'

"On that note," Maour moved over to check Toothless's saddle, "We'll be fine on the 'getting there' part." He pulled at a metal rod. "One of the connecting rods needs to be replaced soon, but it will hold for a while yet." That was what had messed them up in the air. A bent rod, just slightly out of shape, likely thanks to Nóttreiði.

'What does that mean, exactly?' Shadow moved closer, examining what Maour was doing.

Maour felt a wave of surprise. He was _not_ used to having a father figure who actually wanted to hear about his inventions. Even Gobber only cared about what they were supposed to do, not how they worked.

"The rod is part of a chain of parts that pull the tainfin out and push it in," Maour explained, demonstrating as he did. Toothless craned his neck to watch.

'So what is wrong with it being bent?' Shadow looked closer. 'It still pulls, right?'

"Yeah, which is why it isn't a big deal." Maour smiled. "But it's bent, which makes it a bit shorter, meaning the controls are slightly offset. It won't close all the way, because it's always slightly pulled."

'I see.' Literally, as Shadow's eye was right next to the rod. 'Can it not be unbent?'

"Not without risking snapping it entirely," Maour replied, "Which would be annoying to fix. I'd have to go out with another dragon, find an island with a village, and replace it there. We'll still have to do that, actually, but at least this way it's just us two having to make the trip."

'No, not just you two,' Cloey interrupted, looking nervous. 'That would be dangerous. You'll have at least one other dragon with you when you go.'

'Fine with me,' Toothless agreed, pulling his tail away. 'We should get up there soon.' Then a thought seemed to strike him. 'Or not. Make them wait.'

'You want to make Togi _more_ annoyed?' Shadow asked with a sarcastic tone.

'Point taken. Let's go!' Toothless quickly bounded for the exit.

The mountaintop was already occupied when the entire Svartur family reached it, setting down on one edge.

It seemed that Nótteinfari was also there, and she seemed quite surprised to see Von, who met her stare challengingly. Nóttreiði was off to the far side, with his mother between him and the rest of the mountaintop. Nóttskarpur warbled in greeting at Cloey, who warbled back, going over to sit by her. The two families intermixed on the summit, Einfari and Von sitting together, along with Nóttskarpur and Cloey, while Shadow approached Nóttleiðtogi. Toothless and Maour stood awkwardly in the center of the stone plateau, waiting.

'I'm not getting more than five steps from you,' Toothless warned Maour. 'If things go bad, we're out of here, before Nóttleiðtogi can strike.'

"Not worried about Nóttreiði?" Maour teased nervously. "Don't get too confident, even if you beat him once."

'Nóttskarpur will handle him. I believe she will, anyway.' Toothless huffed irritably. 'I wish they'd just get over their issues with this. Nóttskarpur seems nice, and apparently Nótteinfari isn't that set against you, but the other two…'

"Yeah, I know what you mean." Maour really wished that everyone would have been as okay with him as the entire Myrkur family apparently was, or at least curious like the Eldurs. Then again, he felt like both of those families were a little less worldly than the Svarturs and the Nótts, so it might just be they weren't experienced enough to really understand just how much of a fluke Maour was. Or maybe they weren't that naive. He really didn't know.

Nóttleiðtogi shook off whatever Shadow had been saying, leaving his friend to approach Maour.

This was it. Hopefully this encounter would end the suspicion, or at least alleviate it a bit, if Nóttleiðtogi could really smell truthfulness or more in the right conditions. Maour stood a few steps from Toothless, in a non-threatening posture. Not that he could really be that threatening, but Nóttleiðtogi had flinched before, so it was clearly possible.

That was a story Maour wanted to know, but at the same time knew he wasn't going to hear it any time soon. What in the world had made Nóttleiðtogi the way he was?

Some of it was obvious, words and actions from Nóttleiðtogi himself. The deaths of his family, at the hands of humans. But there had to be more, to cause such a clear reaction. There was more, by what Shadow had said, worse Maour did not know.

Now was not the right time to think about that. Now was time to speak truthfully, to try and break through an intelligent dragon's boundless suspicion.

Nóttleiðtogi circled around Maour and Toothless, stopping downwind of them.

'Svarturkappi, you must move away from the human,' Nóttleiðtogi commanded in a blank, neutral tone. 'I must be able to smell him without interference.'

Toothless took one more step to the side. 'That's as far as I'm going. Your family does not have a good track record.'

'That is sufficient.' That neutral tone never wavered, though a hint of annoyance crept in at Toothless's words. Nóttleiðtogi turned his attention to Maour. 'You will answer these questions truthfully, or I will know.'

"Yes, I will." Maour wanted to say more, to say that Nóttleiðtogi had better believe the subconscious scents Maour would unintentionally put out, but even calling that into question felt like handing Nóttleiðtogi another excuse to keep disbelieving. Maour was not willing to take that chance.

'What is your name?' It was probably a testing question, meant to check even that simple piece of information, but for Maour it was not so simple.

"Which one?"

'The first name you were ever given,' Nóttleiðtogi specified.

"Hiccup Horrendous Haddock the third." That was easy enough, but Maour felt a disconnect all the same. It felt like speaking a stranger's name.

'You are not lying, but you are uneasy. Explain.' It seemed the wind was good, the scents clear. Good.

"It's really not my name anymore." Maour took a deep breath. "Svarturflugmaður is, as is Maour." Two names, one formal and one informal, both officially his.

Nóttleiðtogi chuffed in surprise, probably at the Night-Fury-style name Maour had given. The spectators were silent.

'Have you ever attacked a dragon with the intent of killing them?' Nóttleiðtogi sounded a bit less neutral, as if he was sure of the answer.

Maour made a quick decision. He could play it safe, cite the Queen and leave it at that, or…

"Yes, several times. The only time I ever came close was in shooting Toothless down, and in killing the Queen." It was a very good thing that he had been so ineffective with his devices.

'You shot a Night Fury out of the sky with the intent to kill.' Nóttleiðtogi sounded smug, under that facade of impassiveness.

"Yes-"

'A confession.' Nóttleiðtogi hummed smugly, though he didn't seem that certain of his words.

"You didn't let me finish. I couldn't make myself kill him, when the chance really came." Again, the truth. "I chose not to, and have never regretted that decision."

'Because you saw a chance to benefit from the situation.' Nóttleiðtogi was no longer even pretending to be neutral, though he had not moved from his spot in front of Maour, clearly trying to glean as much information as possible from his scent.

"No, not at all." Maour crossed his arms.

'I find it hard to believe you acted with no selfish motives.' Nóttleiðtogi snorted derisively.

"Well, believe it. _Not_ letting him go would have given me everything I ever wanted at the time. Respect, vindication, my rightful place in the tribe, maybe even a date. Letting him go gave up all of that. Permanently, it turns out."

'Okay,' and now Nóttleiðtogi seemed uncomfortable, 'what are your current goals in regards to this island?' It was odd, that he had switched subjects so quickly.

"To fit in, and not be hated by my new neighbors," Maour replied with a bit of anger. "It's been going great, except for a few people…"

Nóttleiðtogi snarled quietly, still not moving an inch. 'Do you harbor any negative emotions towards me or my family?'

"Not really, though your jumping around in these questions is getting annoying." Maour was beginning to find being forced to tell the truth and hold nothing back freeing. "I pity you and your son, because clearly my very existence here is messing up your lives, and it's also clear you personally are traumatized and scared by me." He paused. "Your mate seems nice, and I don't really know Nótteinfari. I know Nótthljóður likes me, and I like little kids. Well, little Night Furies. I didn't really interact with any little human kids." There weren't that many on war-torn Berk, which actually didn't make much sense, given they lost people every year. Berk must chiefly survive on immigrants. That actually might also explain why Berkians were so stupid as a rule, if they had mostly chosen to come to Berk to live. Or maybe that was just some deep-seated bitterness speaking.

Nóttleiðtogi visibly inhaled, and seemed utterly shocked by what Maour assumed was a confirmation that he spoke the truth, calmly and a bit sadly.

There was a muffled commotion from where Nóttskarpur stood, but Maour didn't move his gaze from Nóttleiðtogi. Nóttskarpur was taking care of it.

'What… what do you think of humans?' Nóttleiðtogi seemed confused.

"That's a weird question." Maour considered it. "Really, they're not one group. There are good ones, bad ones, neutral ones, and terrible ones. It's not black and white."

'Why do you refer to them as "they", you're one of them!' Nóttleiðtogi was panting now, straining to inhale as deeply as possible. It was a bit unnerving.

'Around here, Viking means dragon-killer." Maour shrugged. "And human means Viking. I am not one, so I am not really the other, in any way except body. I'd probably trade this body for one like yours if ever given the choice, but that's not possible, so I do the best with what I've got." Although then Toothless wouldn't be able to fly… maybe not.

Nóttleiðtogi literally staggered at that one, his nostrils flaring as if he didn't believe what he was smelling.

The absurdity of being finally vindicated by how he smelled hit Maour at that moment, and he had to fight to keep a straight face. All of his words meant nothing to Nóttleiðtogi, but combined with how he smelled, they were physically rocking the suspicious dragon. It just felt ridiculous.

For Nóttleiðtogi, it was clearly no laughing matter. 'Do you want to hurt any dragon?'

"None I've ever met, and they'd have to do something really bad to get me that mad." Maour smirked. "No, you haven't made that list yet. Really, only the Queen ever has."

That didn't make Nóttleiðtogi any calmer. 'You are a human, what could possibly possess you to-?'

"You should know more than enough to figure that out on your own," Maour said solemnly. "This is my family, and this is my home. Berk never really was, and I see that now more than ever. You're the biggest issue I have here, and you can't hold a flame to my life there." Another expression adapted on the fly, but it felt right. He didn't even bother mentioning Nóttreiði. Dealing with homicidal neighbors wasn't anything new nowadays.

'I don't…' Nóttleiðtogi broke eye contact. 'I can't even look at you without feeling fear. How are you the one in the right?' It was disjointed, tired. Broken. Maour had finally gotten through, and it had destroyed Nóttleiðtogi, by all appearances. There was no visible turning point aside from Nóttleiðtogi's sudden despair, but it was clear. He could no longer deny it.

That did not make Maour feel good at all. "I don't know what happened to you, but you can heal. I'll help you, but I think you just have to try. You could push me away, keep denying that I'm not so bad, but it won't help. Or…"

'Or… you could help me.' Nóttleiðtogi sounded incredulous. 'Humans broke me, and one wants to help fix me. It's ridiculous.' At least he knew he had issues.

"So?" Maour took a step forward. "This clearly isn't working." He gestured to the mountaintop. "We're all up here because we want you to see the truth, in one way or another." Except maybe Nóttreiði, who was here because Nóttleiðtogi wanted to teach him restraint, but it was true of all the others, to some degree.

'I am.' Toothless stepped forward. 'I was here to support Maour, but I'll help you if I can.'

Cloey nodded. 'As am I.'

Shadow caught Nóttleiðtogi's eye. 'I told you to be ready for anything. You have my aid too, friend, and always will.'

Von nudged Einfari, and after a few whispered statements, Einfari stepped forward. 'And if he really spoke truth, we'll need _your_ help to deal with this, so you need to figure it out.' That seemed callous, but it perked Nóttleiðtogi up slightly more than any of the other offers of support.

There was then a dissenting voice. 'Dad, don't listen to them! It's tricking you again, somehow!' Nóttreiði yelled from behind Nóttskarpur. He sounded almost desperate.

Nóttleiðtogi wavered at that, his eyes closing for a moment. After a while he spoke. 'I see now that that would be the easy explanation, the obvious one, the one that fits what I know.'

Maour's heart dropped.

'But since when has the easy path been the right one?' That was said dryly, if pained. 'Son, stand down. My nose does not lie, and it could not have been more clear in proving… _Maour's_ … intentions.' Nóttleiðtogi was very clearly struggling, and he looked old, worn down, but he was trying. That was all that really mattered.

Until he staggered, taking a step towards Nóttskarpur. Everyone surged forward, but he righted himself alone. 'I'm fine…'

'No, you are not.' Nóttskarpur fixed Nóttreiði with a warning glare before rushing to Nóttleiðtogi's side. 'You've worn yourself out.'

'Not really my best plan,' Nóttleiðtogi admitted weakly. He had dropped whatever paranoid energy had been driving him, and now looked like he was near collapse.

'Will you be able to make it down the mountain?' Shadow looked at Nóttleiðtogi critically. He didn't sound hopeful.

'Yes, I'll make it.' Nóttleiðtogi turned to stare at Maour for a moment more. Was there apology in his gaze? If there was, he did not voice it. That was too drastic a change to expect so soon. It was enough for Maour that the rampant suspicion was gone, and that there was some measure of peace in Nóttleiðtogi's eyes, residing alongside the subtle pain and piercing gaze.

Looking at him and seeing that, Maour could see a tiny bit of how Nóttleiðtogi and Shadow were similar. They both had a depth to their eyes, though Nóttleiðtogi's was pained. Not pure intelligence, not pure experience, but a way of looking at things, perhaps.

'I need time.' Nóttleiðtogi faltered. 'And probably help.'

"My offer stands." Maour spread his arms. "I'm not going anywhere, so anytime is good." Help would probably consist of just spending time around Nóttleiðtogi, but that was fine. Maour was beginning to realize that he truly did want to help, would even if it did not benefit him. There was something about seeing a hurt person and knowing one could aid in their recovery, mental or physical.

'Come to me if I do not follow up,' Nóttleiðtogi asked almost desperately. 'Do not let me convince myself that this is all a trick. I see my own failings now, and I don't know if this clarity will last.'

"Deal." Maour resisted the urge to approach Nóttleiðtogi and do something stupid, like touch the dragon. Nóttleiðtogi was the definition of jumpy and dangerous, and Maour wanted to keep all of his limbs intact… no matter how much Nóttleiðtogi looked like he could benefit from reassurance.

Then again, maybe someone else had that covered. Nóttskarpur had moved to Nóttleiðtogi's side and was practically glued to him, ushering him to the edge of the summit, along with Nótteinfari.

'I will not remind him,' Toothless remarked, staring at Nóttreiði, who was glaring at them. 'If he cannot hold to his own word, there is nothing we can do. He will be banished.'

"He's just glaring." Maour hoped Nóttreiði's anger might dissipate eventually, but…

Nóttreiði was glaring at Toothless, not even sparing a glance for Maour. Maybe the anger had shifted. That wasn't much better, but maybe it was a start.

Really, that was how all of this felt. Small improvements, only good in comparison to what they had improved upon. Nóttreiði mad at Toothless instead of Maour, or in addition to Maour. It was really more hope for improvement in that case. For Nóttleiðtogi, it was a bit more true change, though it seemed to have almost broken Nóttleiðtogi in the process.

"Why was Nóttleiðtogi so stressed?" Maour asked no one in particular.

Surprisingly, Von immediately answered. 'Einfari said he hasn't slept in five days. He apparently spent all day every day guarding their caves.'

Well, that would do it.

And there was another small improvement. Nótteinfari. That was entirely Von's work, but it was definitely an improvement. Although something felt almost off in the way she looked at him now…

That was probably paranoia. Maour had just seen how going down that road went, so he didn't fall for it.

Small improvements.


	31. Chapter 31

Two nights. It had taken two nights for Nóttleiðtogi to make contact with Maour, through Nótteinfari, who seemed to be the official method of communication between the families, along with Von, who was the Svartur end of the connection.

Maour was just glad Nóttleiðtogi had worked up the will to do it himself. Even though the Nótt Fury himself had given Maour permission to hold him to his decision if he wavered, Maour had not been looking forward to doing so. Not to say he was particularly looking forward to what Nóttleiðtogi was asking for either.

'He wants you to come alone?' Toothless did not like that at all, it was clear. 'I know we're supposed to be supporting him, but that's a bit much.'

'Einfari says she doesn't think he really needs Maour alone,' Von answered, 'just that he doesn't want to know who is watching, or from where. As long as he can't know for sure that they're not alone, it will work. Apparently.' She warbled in confusion. 'I don't really get it, but Einfari sounded sure.'

"It kind of makes sense." Maour understood… a little. Nóttleiðtogi needed to feel private, unjudged, but also understood that such a thing probably wasn't going to happen. This way, he could pretend.

'So I'll be hiding nearby,' Toothless finished, his tail waving in the air. 'Fine by me.'

Maour stared at the waving tail. "That reminds me, bud, we need to get your tail fixed before it breaks too badly to fly. As is, we're fine for now, but best not to put it off." It was a simple bent rod and not a danger to flight. Right now. That might not be true forever.

'Right. And we need someone else to go with us, according to Cloey.' Toothless chuffed. 'Von?'

'Sure. Do you know where we're going?' Von shifted, acting as if Toothless was going to point out a direction.

'Well… no.' Toothless looked to Maour sheepishly. 'You?'

"Not really," Maour admitted. "I'll have to ask someone where the nearest island with a village is. It might actually be a long flight." His map might have an answer, but it was outdated. They knew that for a fact, having come across several inaccuracies in the months-long search. Best to get up-to-date information.

'After you meet with Nóttleiðtogi, we'll ask someone.' Toothless glanced around the caves. 'I assume mom and dad wouldn't appreciate being disturbed.' No one knew where they had gone, and when that was the case it was not advisable to try and find them. None of the three siblings wanted to risk that.

'Yeah, we'll find someone else.' Von grimaced, though it was an exaggerated gesture.

"Well, time to go find Nóttleiðtogi." Maour stood. "Where'd you say he would be, Von?"

"So," Maour began uncertainly. "Feeling any better?" It was an awkward introduction, but then again, nothing about this situation was easy. They were at an unremarkable location in the woods, near the beach. It had taken some work to find Nóttleiðtogi, and Toothless and Von were just now moving into hidden spots to observe. Maour idly wondered if there were any Nótt observers around. Probably, knowing them. He was beginning to think the defining Nótt trait was subtlety or sneakiness. Or both.

'A little… thank you. For asking.' Nóttleiðtogi grimaced. He was oddly curled up around the base of a tree, his stomach against the bark, almost laying on his side. It didn't look very comfortable.

"Okay…" Maour gave up. "What are you doing?"

'I… cannot control my fear.' Nóttleiðtogi hung his head, though that too was an awkward gesture given how he was positioned. 'This stops me from moving, whether to run or advance, and gives me something to dig into with my claws.' He flexed his front paws, digging his claws into the tree.

"You don't seem so afraid," Maour remarked candidly. "You never do." He sat down, not feeling at all threatened, especially since Nóttleiðtogi had evidently planned to prevent mishaps.

Nóttleiðtogi laughed bitterly. 'I'm terrified. I always am, every time I see you. I'm just really good at hiding emotions.' He flexed his claws again. 'This is Hel, for me.'

"Oh." That made Maour feel bad, even though it wasn't his fault. He almost wished he could ask Toothless for advice, but he had already agreed with his brother that Toothless would listen in the old-fashioned way, and not speak to Maour during the meeting.

It might be semantics, but Maour felt like anything Toothless heard through his own ears wasn't as bad as listening through Maour's. At least if Toothless did it himself, it was normal, and not taking advantage of their ability to spy. Toothless had said he felt the same. Their link wasn't to be abused like that, not for something like this.

'But I am better,' Nóttleiðtogi admitted. 'I slept for a full day and night.'

"Wow, you must have been wiped out. How did you even stay awake for five days straight?" It didn't seem entirely possible.

Nóttleiðtogi's eyes narrowed. 'And how would you know that?'

"I heard it from…" He didn't want to sell his sister out. "A friend, who heard it from a concerned family member of yours."

'Interesting.' Nóttleiðtogi scratched four lines into the bark with his claw. 'Four options. Nóttreiði would not say anything of our defenses as he was and is sure you are a threat.' One line crossed through, marking it out.

"True." Maour winced. "He's still..?"

'Very. Well, it seems that way." Nóttleiðtogi's eyes narrowed. 'I had assumed, anyway. He is angry, as is normal. I would not have thought the target changed.' At that, the calculating gaze returned. 'Nótthljóður is too young to understand, and while she is aware I am not sleeping in my normal place, she would not see it as remarkable.' Another line crossed through.

"I don't know, she didn't mind me." Maour smiled at that memory.

'But she has not been in further contact with you.' It wasn't a question.

"No, not at all," Maour conceded.

'My mate was concerned, rightfully so, but she is subtle, and does not dispense information without real purpose. My daughter is similar if less experienced and thus less subtle.' Nóttleiðtogi purred proudly, his grip on the tree relaxing slightly. 'She is very much like her mother.'

Maour waited for Nóttleiðtogi to continue. It almost felt like a game, if a very odd one. Nóttleiðtogi was pulling apart the possibilities and reasoning through them.

'But someone spoke. Thus, they had cause.' Nóttleiðtogi rumbled consideringly. 'Good cause. I would say my mate, Nóttskarpur, spoke to Eldurhjarta, whose brother spread the information to your family.' Nóttleiðtogi growled. 'Eldurhjarta must learn to guard her tongue.'

"Not Eldurberg?" Maour recalled a very similar scenario.

'Eldurhjarta should not be speaking of that which she does not want to be heard,' Nóttleiðtogi replied dismissively. 'Eldurberg is only one of those who could hear.'

"That's your guess?" Maour did his best to keep a straight face.

'No.' Nóttleiðtogi laughed, a genuine sound of amusement. 'For I can just imagine her glaring at me, calling me a fool for thinking her so indiscrete as to not swear Eldurhjarta personally to silence beforehand. Skarpur is experienced. Therefore, I will say that my daughter told Svarturvon. Einfari lacks that same careful touch, though she is not careless by any means. That is my final guess.' Nóttleiðtogi continued to chuckle. 'I am not mad, for it was warranted.'

"Yeah," Maour admitted, "You're right." Nóttleiðtogi's deduction was very accurate. It was impressive. "Can you do that for harder situations?"

'Not all, clearly.' Nóttleiðtogi's tenseness returned a little, as if he had remembered who and what he was talking to. 'This situation is simple, logically, but I cannot believe the truth in heart, if not mind. Hence my issues.'

"Well, this isn't really that kind of problem." Maour shrugged. "So, any ideas as to how I help you with this?" Talking had calmed Nóttleiðtogi, at least as long as the dragon forgot who he was talking to, but that wasn't enough, it seemed.

'None.' Nóttleiðtogi growled in frustration. 'Time, perhaps, but that is not something I wish to wait for. If there is a better, faster way, I want to find it.'

Something had been bothering Maour about this. "Why?"

'Why do I not want to feel afraid in my own home?' Nóttleiðtogi cast Maour an unamused look.

"No, I get that, but why are you acting so different about it?" Maour had been expecting haughty demands, suspicion, and other such behaviors.

Nóttleiðtogi winced. 'Suffice to say, I must understand you.' He shifted. 'The safety of my family rests on my knowing and dealing with the world as it is, and I have just uncovered a huge blind spot centered on you. I must fix that, and as you have been proven trustworthy…'

"You want to be nice to me?" Maout shook his head. "Not seeing the connection."

'I _need_ to fix my mistake,' Nóttleiðtogi asserted. 'You will be an ally, as will any you ever find, and I have already guaranteed you can bring them here. You, and you alone, as you are the only one who can search for others with your peculiar lack of aggression.'

"So…" That still didn't make sense, though it was getting closer to a chain of logic Maour could understand.

'I cannot afford you to despise me, however rightfully, or my family, though we have given you reason, because you hold power over me, as will any you bring here in the future.' Nóttleiðtogi hung his head in shame at admitting that. 'Power that only you can help weaken. I would rather you help willingly, and for that I have to let you have some measure of control. My judgment is flawed, and yours is not, and I cannot afford to let this issue linger.'

Maour nodded. That finally made sense. Nóttleiðtogi wanted to be free of lingering fear, and he wanted Maour's willing cooperation, whatever it took to get that. And to right some wrongs his family had done, which was a noble enough goal.

"It might help if you told me… why this is an issue." It was a long shot…

'I cannot.' Nóttleiðtogi did not seem angry, just sad. 'It is a story only those I trust know, and even then it was hard to tell. I would need far more pressing reasons than this to tell you, and far more trust.'

"I get it." Maour thought back to his own, undoubtedly less painful past. "There are things I'd rather not share too, although not as bad." He knew the reluctance.

'So we are stuck.' Nóttleiðtogi sighed. 'The sight of a human is painful, and it seems I must endure that pain.'

"Or…" Maour considered it. "Can you close your eyes?" He needed a smaller, more achievable goal. It was becoming clear Nóttleiðtogi's issues would not be solved in a day. They both needed a way to achieve temporary victory now, if only to remain motivated.

'Why?' Nóttleiðtogi did not sound like he was comfortable with that.

"Today, I want to see if you can do that with me around." Maour was thinking about how Nóttleiðtogi had driven himself for days to remain awake. The fear made him unable to relax, to present any type of weakness. Lack of sight was a weakness, if not the biggest one, which was probably sleeping.

Nóttleiðtogi slowly forced his eyelids shut. 'I can.' They snapped back open. 'But that does nothing.'

"I think you're wrong." Maour crossed his arms. "Keep them closed."

'I did not agree to take orders from-' Nóttleiðtogi began crossly.

"You kind of did, actually," Maour objected. "You told me to come and get you for this if you didn't follow through. I think you need me to tell you how this is going to work, if it's your own fear we're trying to defeat."

A moment of silence.

'Fine.' Nóttleiðtogi sighed. 'Tell no one.'

"Agreed." Maour had definitely heard the hint of sarcasm in Nóttleiðtogi's words. They both knew they were not going unobserved. After a moment, Maour made a decision. "And if we can get to a certain point today, I'll make sure we're alone next time." For real. If they could safely get to where Maour wanted, that would be the reward.

He'd convince his brother to allow that if the moment came. For now, Maour needed a reward to offer Nóttleiðtogi for his cooperation, and that was all he had.

Nóttleiðtogi snorted. 'If.' He forced his eyes closed again. 'How long?'

"Indefinitely," Maour answered calmly, noting the unhappy stiffening of Nóttleiðtogi's facial muscles. "If you have a time limit, you'll just endure it. You need to relax, so that you wouldn't mind sitting here as long as needed." That was a goal, but not the one Maour wanted to hit. He couldn't tell Nóttleiðtogi the true goal yet.

'You speak sense, as much as I hate it.' Nóttleiðtogi's claws were steadily piercing the tree beneath them, his body tensing more with each passing moment.

Now, part two. "Are you trying to hear where I am? Trying in some way to make sure you know where I am?" If he was immensely afraid and blind, that was what he would do.

'Yes.' Nóttleiðtogi admitted that a bit guiltily. 'I cannot help it.'

"For now, that's okay, we just need to make it so that you can't whether or not you try." Maour considered that. "How?" He needed to know which senses needed to be tricked.

'Body heat, smell, and general deduction based on the sound of your physical voice, as well as your mental one.' Nóttleiðtogi huffed. 'The latter is not helping, which is good as you cannot disguise that.'

"So sound, smell, and body heat." That last one would be an issue. Hopefully, Nóttleiðtogi wouldn't notice in time, once the other hints were foiled. "I want you to open your eyes for a moment."

Nóttleiðtogi's eyelids snapped up the moment the word open was said. Maour noticed that both grey eyes immediately snapped to him. It was a good thing he hadn't moved. Let Nóttleiðtogi think he would not the next time.

"Is there a plant that smells strongly around here?" They could use fish, but Maour wanted to get back to their work as quickly as possible.

'Yes, actually.' Nóttleiðtogi carefully pried his claws out of the tree and took a grand total of three steps to the side, pawing at the ground there. 'I can faintly smell it even now.' He pulled a strange, bulbous root out of the ground. 'Here. I don't know what it's called, but it smells odd. Not harmful or pleasant, just odd.'

"Perfect. Go back to how you were, but with that in front of your nose." Maour smiled as Nóttleiðtogi did so. "Eyes."

After a moment of hesitation, Nóttleiðtogi once again closed his eyes. 'What about sound?'

"Talk. About anything, it doesn't matter. Try to stick to happy things though, this is stressful enough for you." Maour was flying blind, so to speak, but he might as well go all the way. That was sound and smell neutralized along with sight, and Nóttleiðtogi was distracted…

'I have little to speak of, really. My life here is pleasant and routine, or was, anyway…' Nóttleiðtogi mused. 'Of family, current family perhaps?'

"Sure. Just talk, try to forget I'm here. I won't respond, to help with that." If Nóttleiðtogi could actually forget he had an audience, that would be great, but Maour didn't expect that.

'Nótthljóður, then, as she is the happiest of us.' Nóttleiðtogi purred softly at that name. 'She is playful and speaks her mind, not waiting or thinking first. That is a trait I will not try to teach her to stifle, though some subtlety would help her in life. You wouldn't know this, but her name is so very, very inaccurate.'

Maour wanted to comment, but he was busy and needed to be silent. Nóttleiðtogi's purring was helping mask the sound…

'She hatched in the winter, when snow covered the world. That night, everyone was in their caves, it was so cold. When I went out to get fresh fish for her and Skarpur, I was struck by the pure, clean and silent night. Peace. When Skarpur went out later, and I stayed with our hatchling, she also noticed. We named her Nótthljóður, after the world when she arrived. Silent Night. Night is our name, Nótt, so it fit at the time. No longer.' Nóttleiðtogi chuckled. 'Now, calling her silent is just plain wrong. Her short name is more accurate.'

Almost there…

'And she knows it too. She might be so outspoken simply because it means she is almost never quiet. Never silent. I would not have it any other way.'

Maour very gently, very carefully sat down in a new spot. This wasn't a risk, not like messing with Nóttleiðtogi might have been in any other situation, because Nóttleiðtogi was not in a position to strike out. Still, it wasn't the safest thing to be doing.

'Even as a hatchling, she was loud, which is not normal in the first few weeks,' Nóttleiðtogi continued. 'Screeching whenever she woke, of course, but also yowling at any and everything that got in her way, trying-'

Maour placed a hand on the base of Nóttleiðtogi's wing-shoulders. The dragon flinched beneath him, muscles tensing and jerking away.

'-to,' Nóttleiðtogi inhaled deeply, cutting off a growl, 'to climb over…' Another muscle movement, almost a spasm, away from Maour's hand. 'To climb over Skarpur's side and escape…'

Maour was impressed Nóttleiðtogi had so quickly caught onto the idea, the one he could not be told beforehand out of necessity. When Nóttleiðtogi shakily continued his story, lessening his involuntary flinching to the point where he could ignore it and continue talking, Maour was amazed. Nóttleiðtogi had a huge amount of self-control, judging by just how violent and prolonged that reaction had been. He had a feeling the tree Nóttleiðtogi was likely mutilating at the moment would never be the same. As long as it was the tree though, that was fine.

After a few long minutes, during which Maour never even moved his hand, Nóttleiðtogi stopped speaking, trailing off at the end of his story.

Nóttleiðtogi had never truly relaxed, but he did stop pulling away. That was a minor success. After a few moments of that, Maour sighed. "You can open your eyes."

Nóttleiðtogi's head wrenched around, his eyes instantly on Maour, who had not moved a muscle.

'You tricked me.' His tone was considering, not accusatory. 'And you are touching me right now. Every part of me is screaming that I should tear you apart.' Still calm, still neutral. 'But I don't want to.'

"If this didn't work, I would have tried something else." Maour shrugged. "But I think it might help. Positive thoughts, positive feelings, to at least balance out the fear."

'I am still afraid.' Nóttleiðtogi shook his head. 'Though it is clearly not as bad as before, as I have not yet knocked you out with my wings.'

"Success!" Maour weakly cheered. He hadn't even considered the large and entirely free wing folded in right in front of his head. Forget being torn apart, Nóttleiðtogi might have been able to knock his head off in a single spasm! Next time, he needed to _actually_ think things through.

'But I am not at all enjoying this, all in all,' Nóttleiðtogi noted. 'I'm cramping up because I don't trust myself to move a muscle..' He eyed Maour. 'Can you please move away?'

Maour complied, resuming his position in front of Nóttleiðtogi. "Sorry, I tried my best."

'And it helped, if only a little.' Nóttleiðtogi sighed. 'Your paw is not sharp or rough, at least.'

"Hand, and pretty much none of me is sharp." Maour smirked. "Soft and squishy is generally how humans tend to be, under the armor and such."

'I suppose so.' Nóttleiðtogi shook his head. 'Are we done today? I will continue to defer to you, as my judgment is impaired on this matter.'

"For today." Maour stood. "But we're going to keep doing this. It won't be quite as much as a surprise because you'll be expecting it, obviously, but it seems to help."

'What is your end goal?' Nóttleiðtogi did not sound entirely averse to Maour's plan. He began to extract his claws from the tree.

"Honestly?" Maour thought back to what he had considered earlier. "I want you to be able to fall asleep, knowing I'm right next to you. Maybe with a hand on your back or something." A sign of uninhibited trust.

Nóttleiðtogi barked in surprise. 'Is that necessary? You are a Svartur, not a Nótt, and that sort of occurrence will not happen in night-to-night life.' He stood, moving as if his muscles were stiff, which they were.

"You never know," Maour replied. "Besides, it's more the meaning, not the specific circumstances. Do you think you'd be able to fall asleep in the presence of someone you didn't trust on a deep level? Someone you fear involuntarily?"

'No… I see your point.' Nóttleiðtogi groaned. 'I feel as if I flew for hours and then fought for my life.' He stretched laboriously, his back arching.

"Which is why we're not doing this again tomorrow night," Maour said quickly. "I think… every three days or so."

'You are the one in charge.' Nóttleiðtogi glanced at Maour consideringly. 'You seem knowledgeable about this topic.'

"I'm not, really," Maour quickly admitted, "it just kind of makes sense. I was working mostly off of guesswork, and some basic assumptions."

'You did well, for that.' Nóttleiðtogi paused. 'And now I am complimenting a human. Are you sure this is all natural?' He shook his head. 'It has not been a week.'

"Believe me, it's surprising me too." Maour shrugged. "I guess I'm good at that."

'Well, you do seem to be.' Nóttleiðtogi turned to leave. 'Same time, same general place, in three days?'

"Yeah." Maour recalled his promise. "And I really won't bring anyone next time. You did well." Great, better than Maour had expected, to continue speaking and try to ignore the situation as long as Nóttleiðtogi had.

'Then… neither will I.' Nóttleiðtogi laughed. 'Which is easy, given I brought no one tonight. I wished no one to see what I was half-sure would be a complete failure.'

"Oh. I had honestly assumed you had a few observers somewhere." Maour shrugged. Then a thought struck him. "By the way, do you know where the closest human village is from here?"

Nóttleiðtogi froze. 'I take back my compliment. That was the worst possible thing for you to say if you wanted to earn trust.' His voice was dry.

"I realize that now." Maour felt like an idiot. "It's just that Toothless's saddle rig got a bit messed up when Nóttreiði tried to tackle him, and I can't fix it without a forge."

'I don't know enough to verify that claim.' Nóttleiðtogi stared at Maour.

"I mean, I can explain what's broken and why it needs to be fixed, if we get Toothless and his saddle in here," Maour offered, knowing that calling in Toothless, who would arrive immediately as he was so close by, would destroy the illusion of privacy Nóttleiðtogi had wanted. "Shadow already got the explanation a few nights back, and he understood."

Nóttleiðtogi nodded. 'That is good enough for me, as I can easily check if it is a lie. The closest human nest is quite a ways, a full night's flight.' He proceeded to give directions, though those basically consisted of a direction and a time of flight.

"Thanks-" Maour began to say.

'Don't thank me yet.' Nóttleiðtogi met Maour's eyes with a stare. 'I wish to send Einfari along with you. I trust that will not be a problem.'

"Any reason, or just..?" Maour didn't mind, per say, but it was a bit out of the blue.

'Several.' Nóttleiðtogi huffed in what could only be exasperation. 'I have overheard a few things, and aside from that, it is insurance. You will not do anything sneaky when she is there to see and report.'

"I wouldn't anyway." Maour crossed his arms.

'This is for my peace of mind, nothing else.' Nóttleiðtogi shifted his feet. 'I am trying to trust you, and every little bit of proof will help me.' He managed to sound uncertain.

"That's manipulative of you," Maour noted sourly.

'Yes, it is. That does not make it less effective.' Nóttleiðtogi leaped into the air and left, calling back as he did, 'and I'm taking no response as a yes!'

Maour stared up at the rapidly retreating black shape. He really didn't know whether to feel exasperated or amused by that last trick. Nóttleiðtogi probably just wanted to get back at Maour for his trick earlier.

He turned and began walking in a random direction, knowing what was going to happen.

Sure enough, Toothless dropped out of a tree directly in front of him, before proceeding to stare at Maour.

"I was expecting to be tackled," Maour admitted. "Aren't you mad?"

'You were one mistake away from having a wing on top of your neck instead of a head,' Toothless said angrily. 'I can't tell if you were being stupid or brilliant, to take a dumb risk like that.'

"Let's go with brilliant… and short-sighted." Maour nodded to Von, who had approached from another direction. "Not as safe as I could have made it, but safe enough to be worth the risk."

'Okay…' Toothless abruptly prodded at Maour with a paw accusingly. 'You agreed to go alone next time.'

"It needs to be done." Maour didn't feel like arguing. "It's complicated."

'I can't disagree,' Toothless conceded with a glare, 'given _someone_ already promised.'

'Lighten up, brother,' Von admonished. 'You did great!' She purred at Maour.

"Not really, barely anything changed." Maour was more than happy to move the concentration from his promise to his success, or lack thereof.

'Right.' Von shook her head. 'Because he definitely wasn't joking with you just then. I must have imagined him beginning to respect you. Clearly, nothing has changed in just an hour of work.' Her tone was dry.

"Okay, not a lot-" Maour cut himself off, seeing Von's annoyance. "Fine. We made progress."

'Now he admits it.' Von shifted her attention to Toothless. 'Does he do that a lot?'

Toothless considered it. 'Sometimes.'

'We need to fix that bad habit.' Von continued to speak as if Maour wasn't even there. 'It's not good to dismiss one's own accomplishments so easily.'

'Agreed.' Toothless smiled. 'Although you have a bad habit of your own. For someone with a Night Fury's senses, you really aren't aware of where people are around you.'

'Wha-' Von barked in surprise as Maour's weight dropped onto her back, from the tree he had quietly gotten a jump off of. 'Hey!'

"I got bored, because," Maour shifted to grab on more firmly, "clearly that conversation didn't involve me in any way." His voice was sarcastic.

'Off!' Von commanded. When nothing happened, she slapped Maour with her ears. 'Or I'll roll over!'

"No!" Maour leaped off and ran a few steps away. "I like not being flat!"

Von began to laugh. 'I'm not heavy!' she protested.

"For a dragon!" Maour countered, getting behind Toothless, who was watching in amusement. "For a human, you'd win a prize for fattest in the village!" There was a moment of silence following that.

Toothless very deliberately stepped out of the way. 'I'll scrape you off the ground afterward,' he offered.

Maour winced. "But luckily, you're not a human! Totally slim!" He faltered at Von's flat stare. "I suppose this is the part where I run for my life."

Von nodded. 'You're family, so you get a ten-second head start.' She flicked her tail and crouched. 'One.'

Maour bolted, running in no particular direction, off into the forest.

'Ten.' Von grinned. 'He doesn't need a head-start.' She smirked evilly, racing past Toothless into the forest after Maour.

Toothless followed, yelling as he did, 'Just don't crush him, he's fragile!'

'I'm just going to pin him for a while.' Von laughed, slowing down slightly so that Toothless could keep up, but not overtake her. 'Maybe until he convinces me I'm not fat.'

'In that case, I'll help.' Toothless ran alongside his sister. 'I don't want to miss that.'

'Tonight.' Cloey eyed Toothless and Maour. 'You will go tonight?'

'According to Nóttleiðtogi, it's a long flight, so we should go now,' Toothless replied. 'Get an early start.' They had also spent most of the last night chasing Maour and generally messing around, so this was the first chance they were getting to go.

"Don't forget, Bud, we've got to get Von and Einfari first," Maour added.

'Weren't you paying attention?' Toothless warbled in amusement. 'Von went to get Einfari. They'll meet us at the summit of the mountain.'

"I was busy making sure your saddle was good for the trip," Maour replied. "And getting measurements for the rod I need to replace."

'Well, good luck and safe travels,' Shadow admonished. 'Safe.'

'Very safe,' Cloey added. 'Do not take chances.'

"We'll be sure to come back," Maour promised solemnly. Then he and Toothless left to go meet up with Von and Einfari.

'So, why are you really here?' Von asked her friend as they waited on the mountain.

'Well…' Einfari glanced around, as if to ensure no one was listening. 'Don't tell anyone?'

Von purred. 'I think I know based on that level of secrecy. My brother?'

'Which one?' Einfari replied seriously.

'Uh,' Von stuttered, 'I assume Toothless.'

'No, Maour.' Einfari looked nonplussed at Von's utterly shocked expression. 'What?'

'Isn't there,' Von managed to ask, 'a species barrier?'

'What?' Einfari blinked. 'Why would that matter?'

Von's mouth dropped open. 'I…' She shook her head. 'Wha..?' Words didn't seem to be cooperating with her.

Einfari seemed to make a connection in her mind. She abruptly collapsed, howling in laughter as she rolled on the ground. After her mirth had subsided, she managed to gasp out, 'No!'

'No?' Von asked carefully.

'Not,' Einfari wheezed, 'what I meant.'

'Oh.' Von sighed in relief.

'Did you really think..?' Einfari regained her feet. 'Really?'

'You seemed so sure and calm!' Von protested. 'I thought we were talking about the same thing!'

'And you didn't question that at any point?' Einfari shook her head. 'Wait. In the beginning, you thought I liked Toothless?'

'Do you?' Von warbled curiously. 'I may as well ask.'

'No,' Einfari decided after a moment. 'There's nothing wrong with him, he's just not my type.'

'Neither is Myrkursprenging, Eldurberg, Eldurvatn, or even Myrkurheili.' Von groaned. 'You're still set on going out and looking someday?'

'Yes, I am.' Einfari gestured out to sea with her wing. 'Night Furies go looking for each other. Just because we all live together doesn't mean I have to settle for someone here if I don't want to.'

'I know.' Von snorted. 'And unless someone has a massive personality change, I'll probably be doing the same.'

'Yeah,' Einfari agreed solemnly. 'Hey, it's tradition. At least we can just bring them back here, so we don't have to leave permanently.'

'That's a while from now though,' Von noted. 'We have a long time before then.' Then she looked up. 'Also, why are you here? What about Maour?'

'Well, dad wants me to come, to make sure nothing happens,' Einfari began. 'As a precaution.'

'That's not the only reason,' Von observed slyly. 'What else?'

'Your brother, the human one,' Einfari quickly specified, 'he's interesting. I don't really know him at all, and he makes no sense. This is a chance to observe him at ease.'

'Fair enough.' Von purred. 'He is interesting.'

'Here they come,' Einfari observed, looking at the approaching black silhouette.

Toothless and Maour approached, dropping onto the summit. 'Ready to go?' Toothless asked the two Furies waiting there.

'We are,' Von replied, launching into the sky. 'Which way?'

Toothless answered wordlessly by taking the lead, flying in front of the other two Furies as they left the island behind.

'A perfect night for stealth.' Von chuffed. 'Too bad we won't get there until morning.'

"Yeah, it's a long flight," Maour agreed. "We've got some time to burn."

Toothless shook his head, trying to take his mind off of his fatigue. They had been flying for hours, almost the entire night, and his wings were beginning to ache. The ocean below never changed, adding to the illusion that he had just spent many hours going nowhere…

'Toothless?'

And answering questions. So many questions. 'Yes, Einfari?'

'I have another one.'

Of course she did. Toothless had never gotten a chance to talk with Einfari before. It seemed she had boundless curiosity, though in a subdued way, unlike the Eldurs. Her questions tended to go in different directions too. 'What is it?'

'When you were at the volcanic nest, did the other dragons fight?' Einfari continued carefully. 'Did they get into arguments, I mean?'

'Of course.' Toothless huffed. He didn't see the point in asking that. 'Over real issues and stupid made-up ones, or just to pass the time.'

'How did they solve them?' Einfari glided a bit closer, looking Toothless in the eye.

'Fighting, though not to the death.' The Queen had forbid that, to preserve the lives of her useful tools. 'The loser was in the wrong.' Might made right. Not his favorite way of deciding anything.

'What happened to the loser?' Einfari's voice was soft now.

'Usually a humiliating punishment, or just being bruised and scorched until they couldn't stand.' Toothless was pretty sure there would have been a lot of crippled dragons around if the Queen hadn't forbidden that too.

'I guess if death and exile weren't options,' Einfari mused. 'Did she ever get involved? The Queen, I mean.'

Toothless tried to remember. 'Not often… or really ever. It happened once or twice though. The dissenters usually both got eaten. There was a reason no one brought their disagreements to her voluntarily.'

Von, flying to Toothless's other side, shuddered midair. 'Horrible.'

'Effective,' Einfari countered, 'in a way. If one's goal was to not be bothered, anyway.'

"If she really didn't want to be bothered,' Maour chimed in, "she shouldn't have taken them as thralls and forced them to stay on her island. No one would even be around, so no one could bother her then."

'No one said she was consistent… or smart.' Toothless laughed. It felt freeing to insult the Queen, now that she was dead and gone. Why had he never done so back on Berk, for that matter? It wasn't like she was around to hear him then. Such a missed opportunity.

'Is that the island?' Von pulled forward a bit, as if to get a better look, despite them already going at a decent speed in that direction. 'We should be there by now.'

'Well…' Toothless strained to see further. The night was almost gone, the sky just beginning to lighten in advance warning of dawn. There was a smudge of brown on the horizon. 'Maybe?'

As they got closer, it became clear that they had finally reached their destination. It was a somewhat small island, one with a large port, a village…

'Odd.' Toothless had never seen an island so devoid of trees. There was one scrawny, undersized copse of old pine trees on one hill in the corner of the island, and that was it. There rest was either part of the village, farmland, or fields.

"They must trade for wood," Maour concluded, picking up on Toothless's train of thought. "It's not that uncommon, but it is expensive. They must be able to afford it with all the crops they grow and livestock they raise."

'Why do they need to get it from others?' Einfari asked. 'And why would other groups want food? Can't they get it themselves?'

"That's just how it works," Maour answered after a moment's thought. "Some islands aren't good for crops, so they raise animals, and some islands are the opposite, or not good for food at all, but great for other things. Tribes trade so that they all get what they need."

'Well, we need to get into that miserable excuse for a forest now,' Einfari interjected. 'We cannot be seen.' Her voice was stern, despite having just had the question she asked answered.

'We were going to,' Toothless grumbled, setting his course for the patch of woods. He had almost forgotten Einfari was here as a representative of her father. Her authoritative tone bothered him a little.

The woods were indeed scrawny, and composed of old oaks and pines. Luckily, they were dense enough to hide three Night Furies within… as long as no villagers came around. It wouldn't take long for a wandering Viking to cover the entire area on foot.

Maour immediately set off for the edge of the woods. Toothless, Einfari, and Von made themselves comfortable, more than happy to rest and wait for Maour to return.

Well, two of them were content to rest. Einfari prowled around aimlessly, staring in the direction of the village, though nothing could be seen from where they were.

'Maour?' Toothless accessed his brother's senses, and was treated to a sight of the village as Maour approached.

"It's not Berk. Thankfully," Maour added, "as strangers on Berk were a big event."

'Will that be a problem here?' Toothless asked. He became aware that Einfari was listening when he briefly switched back to his own sight while moving to a more comfortable position, laying his head on his paws. He could have done that without switching back, but it made him dizzy. Maybe he and Maour could work on that. It might be useful to be able to move reliably when not using one's own sight.

"This is a port village. They live off of trade, it looks like." Maour walked around the back of one of the buildings on the outskirts of the village, moving inward. "Visitors like me are normal. As long as no one asks which ship I came on, there's nothing to mark me as unusual."

'What is he saying?' Einfari asked, her voice curious. 'Can you just repeat everything, so we know?'

'Fine,' Toothless conceded. 'It's not that interesting though, he's just walking around.' It was hard to be annoyed by Einfari's newfound curiosity, but she was wearing his patience thin.

There wasn't much to relay for a while. Maour was taking the opportunity to look around, opting to wander and get the lay of the land instead of just asking for directions to the nearest blacksmith. They needed to wait until dark to leave, so he had the time.

'What is he doing now?' Einfari nudged Toothless's side. Toothless heard Von sigh off to the side.

'Still looking around.' Toothless was quickly reaching a minor breaking point. 'I will say if anything happens.'

'Can't he look around quicker? Or-' Einfari began.

'Einfari!' That was not Toothless, surprisingly. Von had almost shouted, growling at her friend. 'What has gotten into you?!'

'She's not normally like this?' Toothless returned to his own vision, to see his irate sister staring at Einfari, who was staring back unrepentantly.

'No, she is not.' Von directed that at Einfari. 'And I know her well enough to know when she is trying to project a certain image of herself.'

Einfari barked in surprise. 'You do?!' She suddenly looked a lot more embarrassed, her tail drooping.

'Yes, I do.' Von shook her head. 'We've known each other since we were fledglings. Did you really think I would fall for this?'

Einfari whined apologetically. 'You're right.'

'So, are you going to explain..?' Toothless ventured, still too unsure of what Einfari was trying to do to be more specific.

'Dad wanted me to make sure nothing happened,' Einfari began, 'but he didn't tell me to do this. This was my idea.'

'And…' Von prompted.

'I wanted to see how dragons are supposed to react to annoyances,' Einfari continued, speaking quicker. 'You act like any dragon would, while our generation on the island…'

'Doesn't,' Von finished wryly. 'You know, Einfari, you could have just asked one of the older Furies. They all know.'

'But why do you care?' Toothless understood now what Einfari had been doing, but it still made no sense.

'I'm a Nótt,' Einfari replied dismissively. 'We read people, plan ahead, anticipate anything we can. I can't read you or Maour. None of my family could, it seems.'

'So…' That did make sense. 'You were provoking me to see how I reacted?' As if Toothless himself was an accurate measure of the average dragon. 'I'm not a good example of normal.'

'Better than anyone else I know,' Einfari shot back. 'You and Maour, and to some extent your mom. You've all been out in the world. We've been home, living in isolation.'

Toothless snorted. 'You say that like it's a bad thing. I would have preferred living like you do.' Far more than living in the volcanic nest, that was for sure. If one only considered the place, it was no competition.

'But would you rather have had my life?' EInfari asked seriously. 'All of it, compared to what you have now?'

That… wasn't an easy question. An easy life, but… He would have never met Maour, never helped end the Queen's reign, never gotten Maour off of Berk. Would things really be better like that?

'No.' Toothless growled softly. 'I would not trade how my life has gone.'

'Exactly.' Einfari sighed, her expression growing sad. 'But back on the original question, you are more normal than anyone else here.'

'You want normal?' Toothless thought back to what he had grown up around. 'I would have pinned you and roared in your face to get you to stop bothering me… about half an hour ago. Normal is no self-control whatsoever.' He had seen far more than enough of that to know it for the truth.

Einfari blinked at him, seemingly surprised. 'Really?'

'Yes, really.' Toothless huffed. 'Is it any surprise I prefer it here?' He was speaking of the island they called home now, not this miserable forest and village.

'I guess not…' Einfari trailed off.

That seemed to be the end of the conversation. At least Einfari wasn't intentionally annoying him now. With that thought, Toothless tuned back into Maour's perspective.

"Welcome back," Maour muttered under his breath. He slammed a hammer onto a glowing axe blade, slightly undoing a dent in the side.

'You already found a forge?!' Toothless could have sworn the entire conversation with Von and Einfari hadn't taken more than five minutes.

"Right after you stopped watching." Maour cast a glance to the side, looking at a large and beefy woman, who was watching intently. "Framja's agreeable enough, but she has a thing about people using her forge. This is a test to make sure I'm competent."

'And then she'll let you make the rod?'

"No, then she'll let me handle a few of her orders." Maour plunged the straightened ax head into a barrel of water. " _Then_ I can make the rod."

'That's unreasonable,' Toothless grumbled. If Maour was doing the work, why should he have to do this woman's work first? It wasn't like it cost her to let him use the equipment.

"I didn't have any good metal to work from." Maour pulled the ax out of the barrel, and inspected the metal, tilting it to look closely from different angles. "That's what I'm going to have to pay off first." He subtly nodded to a small bar of iron sitting in the corner. "I don't really have any money right now."

'I'll pay you back.' Toothless didn't like that Maour was having to work off the material just for his tailfin.

"What?" Maour almost dropped the ax. "No reason for you to do that. It's our saddle, so we both work to keep it up. I do the forging, and you do the testing."

'I guess that's fair,' Toothless conceded. 'You're getting extra fish for a while though. I won't be doing much testing if we're just replacing parts when they break.'

"Oh really?" Maour grinned, taking the ax to a grindstone. "We'll be doing more than that, if Framja thinks I'm up to par. We can show up every once in a while and make whatever we need. The saddle is not anywhere close to perfect. I foresee many new improvements coming soon…"

Toothless was still brooding on that last comment by the time Framja had readily approved Maour's skill and set him to work. He couldn't complain, but testing things tended to mean things breaking, and failing, and them both falling out of the sky.

Although, now he had a sister who might be willing to help them. Maybe Von could grab Maour out of the sky if something went wrong.

Something felt odd about this moment. Toothless went over the situation.

'Maour, are you tired?' It was the first thing that came to mind. They had flown all night, and Maour was still working well into the day.

"Uh…" Maour paused. "No, actually."

'Good.' That was a relief.

"I mean, I really don't feel tired at all. Not like normal."

'Do you think..?' Toothless laughed at himself. 'No, of course not.' Night Furies could go almost two whole days and nights without sleep, though they crashed at the end of that time, which was why it wasn't preferable. Still, it was just a deep sleep that left no lasting ill effects, so it wasn't a bad thing.

Maour knew that, having had it explained by Cloey at some point in their travels, so he picked up on Toothless's thoughts. "I'm not sure, but it feels like it."

Toothless abruptly considered the question again. 'I guess it is possible.' If how long one could go without sleep depended on the mind, Maour might actually be adapting to be that resilient.'

"Cool." Maour smiled. "I like that."

The flight back to their home was not as bad as the flight out, if only because Einfari, having volunteered to keep watch while the other two Furies rested, was too tired to talk much.

Thinking back, Toothless now saw patterns in the questions she had asked. They all came down to behavior, either his or what was normal. Or Maour. Einfari really was just trying to understand them both.

It wasn't that bad of a goal, all in all, even if she was only doing it because she couldn't predict them like she apparently was able to do with everyone else. At least she was focused on understanding, not opposing.

"Toothless." Maour was quiet, almost contemplative. "I'm still not that tired."

'Yup, you got that from the link.' A full night and day, and counting. That was not normal for Maour. 'You'll sleep very soundly when we get home.'

"Fine by me." Maour twitched his end of the tail, and Toothless complied with the suggestion, the two of them drifting out a bit more, out of easy hearing range of Von and Einfari. He remained silent, waiting for Maour to bring up whatever involved privacy.

"I really didn't care," Maour began, his voice pensive.

'About what?' Toothless felt like he already knew.

"Today I was around other humans, and I didn't feel any different." Maour shifted in the saddle. "It wasn't a big deal. Is that weird?"

'Why would it be?' Really, what was Maour's point?

"I don't know, it just doesn't seem normal." Maour laughed softly. "I haven't seen another human in almost a month, but today I didn't care. It didn't matter."

'It shouldn't matter. You have us, and it's not like you were alone for a month,' Toothless countered. 'And really, why you should look forward to interacting with people who don't understand you, and probably wouldn't like your ideas anyway…' It was unfair to say that about people he didn't know, but if Berk was any indication, Vikings were pretty bad at that. Understanding other people, at least. Most of them were pretty dense.

"I guess it's just hitting me…" Maour shrugged, a gesture Toothless could just barely feel, given Maour was sitting in the saddle. "My home is a cave on an island full of dragons, but I feel more comfortable there than I ever have anywhere else. I don't miss houses, or other humans, or even the forge, although we still need that last one."

'Can we build one at home?' It was just rocks. How hard could rocks be to put together right?

"I don't really know how to make one," Maour admitted, to Toothless's surprise. "They're more complicated than they look, and I'm not strong enough to actually put one together anyway. They kind of need strength and precision. You have one, and I have the other, but it would be really hard. And we'd need coal or charcoal, and a bunch of other things too, so we'd be going to the village anyway, at least for a while. We could do it, but it would take a lot of effort, and I don't like the idea of a forge in the caves. Too much smoke. On the other hand," Maour mused, "our island is supposed to be uninhabited, so we can't have it outside either. Yeah, best not to have one. For now, anyway. Maybe if it gets too annoying to go back and forth."

Toothless privately thought it would probably be a good idea to get the other Furies used to the idea first too, just to avoid potential issues. Maybe someday.

For now… 'So we just come back.' Toothless snorted. 'And when you find a girl who doesn't run screaming, we can bring her back here, and everything will be perfect.' There had to be at least one out there.

"Sounds great," Maour mused. "But I'm in no rush."

'So let's go home…' Toothless sighed. 'And get started on those saddle modifications. Those should keep us busy.'

"And helping Nóttleiðtogi, and spending time with everyone else, and probably five other things I'm forgetting," Maour added in an amused tone of voice.

'Exactly. We've got plenty to do.' Was this what a normal life looked like? It certainly wasn't as chaotic and uncertain as Toothless was accustomed to life being.

Just by thinking that, he knew something would go wrong. When did it not? Still, this was good. The last of the uncertainty, how they were going to keep his saddle intact, was solved.

Time to settle into a normal life. While that lasted, anyway.

**_Author's Note:_ ** **Well, that was quite a detour, but a good one, I think. Next chapter we actually begin arc four. Really, this whole little expansion is an arc in itself, so this last one is arc five now.**


	32. Chapter 32

**_Author's Note:_** **Back from Winter break, and thus back to the usual schedule… just in time for this chapter. As a side note, I got quite a bit of writing done this break as well. _When Nothing Remains_** **is finished, clocking in at over 160,000 words, just like this story. As for this universe, I got around to making sure the opening chapters of _Living Anonymously_ are consistent with the extra chapters we just finished with. That involved a lot of rewriting.**

**On that note, the revised chapter count for this story is 37, plus a separate epilogue. As this is chapter 32, that means we're close to the end. Of this book, anyway. Next book starts right back up with the same plot threads, and a few new ones.**

**Speaking of plot threads… on with the chapter!**

Fishlegs walked through the village of Berk. As per usual, he was deep in thought and the Vikings of Berk took no notice. Today was not usual, though, as FIshlegs was considering something that had been nagging at him. It had been bothering him for the last eight months, ever since Hiccup had blown up with a somewhat confusing speech that was delivered from in between two of the deadliest dragons on the world.

Fishlegs had watched as Hiccup voluntarily left his tribe, family, and island behind. He had watched in stunned disbelief as Hiccup had held up his father's ax while one of the furies melted it, right in front of Stoick. Hiccup was always sarcastic, but he sure had a flair for dramatic symbolism. Just like with the helmet he shucked in front of the whole village when declaring to the fury, "I'm not one of them", so with the ax. And his weird scythe-like weapon. Fishlegs had overheard Stoick refer to it as a weapon of a loner.

Looking back, Fishlegs wondered how long ago Hiccup had been preparing to leave Berk. He had built the weapon right after weapons training had started. That was weeks before the whole incident with the Night Fury and the Nest.

Fishlegs didn't sidetrack to geek out over the Queen dragon. He had done that in the weeks immediately following Hiccup's defection and had stopped obsessing over it only recently, as he now had no way to get to the nest and study the corpse. He was still focused on the question of how long Hiccup had been planning his departure.

That logically prompted another question, one much more intricate, one that hadn't occurred to Fishlegs before. What had Hiccup been planning?

Fishlegs was pretty sure the Night Fury being struck by lightning was a coincidence. So everything Hiccup did after that had to have been spur-of-the-moment. And that didn't add up. Fishlegs had seen a saddle on the other Night Fury. Where had it come from? Hiccup had clearly made the saddle and prosthetic tail it had been wearing, but when? And how did it get there, on the Nest? And why… because it couldn't fly on its own? But Hiccup hadn't flown it there.

Fishlegs stopped walking in the middle of the village. No one cared. He was devoting all brainpower to this new line of questioning.

Logic stated that Hiccup had time. Time to make a prosthetic fin and saddle, from scratch. That was something for which he would have needed to make plans and draw schematics. But most importantly, Hiccup would have needed measurements, and he would have needed to test the prosthetic, most likely repeatedly.

Hiccup had time, and he must have had access to a Night Fury. Logic said that if the dragon could not fly, and Hiccup definitely couldn't sail to another island, then all of the aforementioned measuring and testing had been done on Berk. Thus, he must have been in contact with a Night Fury on Berk, secretly. But no one else had ever seen it.

Fishlegs' mind was drawn to the night Hiccup had claimed to shoot down a Night Fury. No one had believed him. The presence of an injured Fury later suggested a course of events, a timeline. What if Hiccup had been the one to injure it? Shooting a dragon out of the sky could do it.

That implied Hiccup had been in contact with that Fury for over a month before things came to a head. A month! That was ridiculous. Hiccup managed to survive constant contact with a dragon he maimed for over a month? There had to be more. And Hiccup had said something about the dragons. Actually, Hiccup had confirmed Fishlegs' theory about shooting the Fury down, but now Fishlegs had logic behind it. That meant Hiccup had been sane and told the truth.

Fishlegs felt sick. Hiccup hadn't been crazy. What had he said? 'A dragon, of all things, saw my life and decided that I could use a friend. Because none of you cared.' As Fishlegs considered that, he realized that Hiccup wasn't exaggerating. No one had cared at all, except for Gobber. Hiccup had said that too.

There was something else in that speech. Hiccup had said, 'I let him watch through my eyes'. Like the rest of that speech, Fishlegs had dismissed it as crazy talk. However, if all the other points checked out, who was to say this one didn't, too?. Hiccup had said it twice, about letting the dragon watch through his eyes. That was intriguing on a level Fishlegs had never felt before. He needed to know more. The analytical side of him had to have more information than that. There was more, other things Hiccup had said that Fishlegs could have analyzed, but he held on to this particular piece.

But how to find out? Fishlegs knew that Hiccup had notebooks, and he had left straight from the Nest. So, if he had written anything down, it would still be where he had left it. That would narrow the search down to only two places: his bedroom or the back of the Blacksmith's shop.

Fishlegs knew there was no way he was getting into Hiccup's room in the chief's house. He had to be discreet about all of this because Berk had changed in the last eight months. It had started when Snotlout became the heir, after a long and heated argument in the Great Hall. Though it didn't mean that much at the moment, as Stoick was far from retiring, it gave Snotlout unofficial power. Then Hiccup had been elevated among the villagers as the worst traitor since Alvin the Treacherous. Like Alvin, Stoick had banned the village from speaking about Hiccup at all. It was slowly becoming like he hadn't existed, except to betray them all, in some unspecified way. And, as he thought about it, that didn't sit well with Fishlegs. Because, despite anything else Hiccup might have done, he did find the Nest, and he did kill the creature responsible for the raids. Dragons were now a rare sight on Berk. Houses went unburnt, livestock grazed in peace. It was downright surreal.

Dragons actually hadn't been a rare sight on Berk on the few weeks following the events at the Nest. There had been a few in the woods, and they didn't bother anybody. But Astrid had led hunts for them and systematically purged the forests of Berk of any dragon that dared land there, or at least any dragon that didn't get away. Fishlegs hadn't seen a dragon except as a dot in the sky for months now. They had quickly learned to stay away from Berk. Which, to Fishlegs, reinforced yet another theory. The massive monstrosity had been forcing them to attack Berk. How he didn't know, but it was clear. If a few hundred deaths didn't deter them before, why would a few dozen now? Maybe because now they had a choice. Clearly, Astrid's hunts had warned them away.

On that note... Everyone had discounted Hiccup's parting words of slander against Astrid. She was unconscious for that and nobody dared breathe a word about it, but she was still obsessed with killing dragons.

In the last few months, she had started leading dragon hunts. At first, she went to the Nest. But there were no dragons there. Now, she led her hunts to random islands in what Fishlegs considered to be a very unhealthy obsession. He would have expected her to focus on protecting the village, as had been her apparent motivation up until recently. Or had it? She had killed that Terror in the arena...

Best not to think about that. Fishlegs forced his thoughts back to the present. He started moving again, heading towards the blacksmith's shop. But Gobber wasn't just going to let him look through Hiccup's stuff. Gobber had been keeping it undisturbed and had been successful because no one cared enough to insist he trash it. Fishlegs needed some way to get in there, grab anything interesting, and get out. So, he went to go find the twins.

He eventually located them in the fish storehouse. They were sparring using cod as swords. Strange, but that was normal for them.

"Fishy, what brings you here?" Tuffnut paused mid-swing, and his cod-sword flopped over in his hand. He took a cod to the face from Ruffnut.

"I need you guys to help me pull a prank." He really hoped they would help him. They hadn't been pulling many pranks lately. Actually, they hadn't been around the village much at all.

"A prank. Fishlegs pulling a prank? Count us in!" Ruffnut dropped her cod as she said this.

"So, what do you have in mind, Fish-meister?" Tuffnut was in too. Fishlegs sighed in relief.

"I need you two to distract Gobber. I want to go through Hiccup's stuff in the back room and take anything interesting to look at later. Actually, if you know a secret place I could hide this stuff, that'd be great too."

"Alright." Tuffnut looked at Ruffnut, who nodded. "On one condition. We know a good place to hide this stuff, but we want to look at it too. We're so bored, even Hiccup's notes count as entertainment now!"

Fishlegs didn't see any harm in it. No one listened to the twins anyway. "Deal. Let's get to work."

Gobber was unhappy. That was normal, now. He had lost his apprentice and felt terrible about the boy's defection and apparent insanity. So, he wasn't in the best mood when Tuffnut stopped by.

"What do ye need? I'm busy." He moved over to the counter, facing out of the window. He didn't notice Fishlegs coming in through the back door, and going into Hiccup's area.

Tuffnut looked shifty, but that was normal. Ruffnut not being nearby was a bit odder, if not unheard of. "I've got some weapons that need repairing. A lot of weapons."

"Alright, hand 'em over."

Tuffnut pulled a dented mace from by his feet. Gobber couldn't see his feet, so he hadn't seen the mace. "One mace..." Gobber grabbed it and set it on a table behind him.

"One spear..." Tuffnut picked up a spear from by his feet as well and handed it to Gobber. Gobber put it on the same table.

"One dagger... One spear... One club... One mace... One club..." The list went on, as Tuffnut handed Gobber weapons. It was common knowledge that the twins had a lot of weapons, so it took Gobber quite a while to notice.

"One mace..." Gobber took the fourth mace by reflex, then stopped.

"Hey, this is the same mace!" He looked back. "These are all the same weapons!" He thought about that for a moment. Ruffnut wasn't around, and somehow weapons were magically moving back to Tuffnut. It didn't take a genius to connect the dots. He smiled. "Ye know what, I'm good with that. Ye've only got the four weapons that actually need repairin'?" It was more of a relief, to be entirely honest. A nice, harmless prank that meant Gobber had less work than he had been anticipating, not more.

Tuffnut nodded, confirming the smith's suspicions.

"Well, I'm just relieved I don't have twenty new weapons ta' repair!" Gobber laughed. "That was actually a good one! See ya later Tuff. And Ruff, I assume." He moved back into the forge.

Gobber never even knew that someone had been in the back room he kept untouched. All he knew was that the twins had finally pulled a prank on him that he liked. The joke was on them.

"You could have just told me we were coming here." Fishlegs had just popped through the rock entrance to the cove, with 'help' from the twins, who had needed a running start to shove him through. "I would have brought some grease." Apparently, the twins were spending time here now. He figured since only Astrid, Snotlout, and himself knew about it, it was pretty secret. Astrid and Snotlout were too busy to come looking.

"But that would have ruined the surprise!" Tuffnut sat on a large boulder. Fishlegs dropped the pile of parchments and notebooks. He had taken what seemed to be the most recent stack. Ruffnut sat on the boulder between them.

"You guys look at the parchments first, I'll start with the notebooks. We'll switch when we're done. Fishlegs picked up the first notebook and started flipping through. This one seemed to mostly be maps of various part of Berk.

There was silence for a few minutes. Then Ruffnut spoke up. "None of his inventions worked, right? Because some of these are really cool."

Fishlegs looked over. "None except the last one, apparently. We know that one worked." He moved on to the next notebook… and stared. This one was recent, as indicated by the Night Fury drawn on the first page. "Guys, come over here and look at this!" He felt like Ruff and Tuff were part of his search now, so he figured he'd share.

They moved to look over his shoulders. He turned the page.

A blank page, with just a few words. 'Here on Berk, the truth is dangerous. This truth, anyway. If someone is reading this by chance, there are two possibilities. Either I am still on Berk, in which case was I'd rather you put this down and forget, using that impressive Berkian skill of ignoring me, or I am gone, in which case feel free to read on.'

"The second one, right?" Ruffnut asked.

Fishlegs didn't bother answering, wordlessly turning the page.

There was a drawing of Hiccup, standing in front of a bound and wounded dragon. He held a knife up. There was a quote on the bottom of the page. 'I looked into his eyes...' The drawing was extremely well done, and it gave off an overwhelming impression of sadness. Hiccup had managed to convey a sense of regret even through charcoal lines. Ruffnut and Tuffnut were silent.

Fishlegs turned the page. There was Hiccup, cutting the ropes. Again it was incredibly detailed. There was another quote. '...and saw myself.'

"Geez..." Ruffnut didn't seem to have anything else to say. They recognized what the pictures were implying, but the way they were drawn made it impossible to not empathize with both the boy and dragon. It helped that they knew this had most likely really happened.

Fishlegs turned the page. On it was a very simple sketch of the Night Fury, from above. It carried none of the detail the first two did. There was a tailfin rubbed out. The quote was the saddest yet. 'But it was already too late.' The implication was clear. Fishlegs turned the page.

This picture was more detailed, like the first two in quality. It was actually two separate pictures; one picture of Hiccup offering the dragon a fish, and the other of the dragon, sitting on his hind legs as Hiccup held half of the same fish. The dragon seemed to be waiting for something. 'I gave him food so he wouldn't starve; he shared. After he had already swallowed it, much to my disgust.'

"Wait, seriously? We don't even like to share!" That was Tuffnut, sounding flabbergasted. "Ruff, the dragon's more polite than we are!" That was said in mock horror.

Fishlegs was understanding what this was. Hiccup might have normal journals, but this one was intended to tell a story, an important one. A picture was worth a thousand words. It was a story Hiccup couldn't tell anyone but wanted to. Fishlegs turned the page.

The next page depicted a dragon, the Night Fury, close up. It just showed his face, smiling in an unnatural grin. The dragon seemed to be imitating something not drawn. 'I called him Toothless; it turns out he does have teeth. The name stuck.' Fishlegs stared at the drawing. Hiccup had even detailed the definitely toothless gums. He turned the page. This was like something out of a childhood fairy tale. He had to know more.

The next picture was the happiest yet. It showed Hiccup sitting on a log, drawing in the sand. The Fury was watching intently from over his shoulder. 'I had no idea just how intelligent he was.' Fishlegs turned the page. The twins seemed just as enraptured as he was.

The next page made them all laugh. The dragon was holding a sapling that had been torn from the ground, and Hiccup was watching in amazement as Toothless drew all around him. 'I was shown a little just how much I didn't know, But Toothless is a terrible artist.'

Tuffnut snickered. "Still better than you, sis." Ruffnut elbowed him. She didn't want to ruin the moment. Fishlegs turned the page.

This was a close-up shot. On one side, the Fury with its head forward and eyes closed. On the other, Hiccup with his hand out and head facing the other direction. His hand was resting on the dragon's snout. 'We trusted each other.' Fishlegs lingered on this page. Then he turned the page.

There was a drawing of Hiccup... in pain? He was on the ground, holding his head. The Fury was apparently unconscious beside him. Fishlegs wondered if he had missed a page. He flipped back and forth. Nope. He looked at the quote. 'That was when things got weird.'

"What does that mean?" Ruffnut was entirely serious. "Did the dragon hurt him?"

Fishlegs didn't think so. It didn't make sense. He turned the page. But he accidentally dropped the book in his haste to find out what had happened. It fell open to the last page.

He picked the book up with shaking hands. He wanted to throw up. But he couldn't move. Ruffnut and Tuffnut didn't move either. They stared in horror at the last page.

There was a drawing, like all the pages they had seen. It was split into two images. On the left was Astrid. The picture was depicting the moment before she bisected the Terror in the ring. The panic in the small dragon's bulging eyes was clear, as was the cold and menacing way Astrid was hefting her ax. It was incredibly detailed, which made it so much worse.

The other side was even more detailed. And even more terrifying. It depicted Astrid walking away from the two halves of the dragon, a proud look on her face. It also depicted the dead Terror, in horrifying detail. Hiccup had spared nothing from being included. The blood, the guts, the pool of spreading bile. The Terror's dead eyes. Staring. The quote was written sloppily as if Hiccup had been angry when writing. 'The next time I ran into Astrid, Toothless could smell something new. A tiny, creeping thread of insanity. I do not doubt this was the tipping point. Astrid and the Queen are the same; they both execute Terrors for fun.'

Fishlegs broke first. He dropped the book and ran to a bush, proceeding to redecorate the immediate area with half-digested lunch. The twins might have eaten some disgusting things in their lives, but this combined with the sound and smell of Fishlegs puking was too much. They followed suit. None of them had seen that particular moment, and they had avoided looking at the aftermath. But Hiccup had seen, and he had blindsided them with that image.

Fishlegs was the first to recover. He stumbled back to the book, and hastily flipped it shut. "I think we've seen enough." He dropped the book onto the pile. He didn't want to look through Hiccup's stuff anymore. Neither did the twins, apparently. The joined him in sitting on the rock, staring at the closed book.

"He said Astrid was insane at the Nest. The dragon could smell it, apparently." Ruffnut was talking slowly, trying to process it. "We need to keep looking. Hiccup knew things, things the dragon could show him, things it apparently could tell him. And he might have put it in here." She was entirely serious now, and Tuffnut nodded. They had been looking for fun before. Now they understood what they were really doing. They, along with Fishlegs, were searching for the truth. Even if it was horrifying.

Fishlegs picked up another journal. He opened it cautiously and skimmed a few pages, then set it aside. It was dated way before the other had been. He picked up the last journal in the pile. It seemed to be small schematics. He flipped to the last page that had been drawn on, and saw something very familiar.

"Whoah, is that Hiccup's scythe? Cool!" Tuffnut liked this.

Fishlegs read some of what Hiccup had written. 'Need something light...fast...attack from multiple directions...Toothless suggested curved blade, like claws...' Fishlegs looked up.

"Apparently, the dragon helped design it." That was yet another shock to Fishlegs' system. The dragon clearly had some way to communicate with Hiccup. There were other notes, apparently explaining Toothless's reasoning. There was no way that was conveyed through charades.

"That may be the coolest thing I've ever heard. A weapon designed by a Night Fury!" Ruffnut was ecstatic. She dove into the loose parchments with vigor. "Let's go through the rest of this stuff, see if there's anything else cool!"

An hour later, they had gone through all the parchment, and every notebook but the one with the pictures. None of them wanted to open that book again. Hiccup had proven a good artist; good enough to be scary when he wanted to evoke a reaction. They all feared what they would find in the unseen pages. Best to avoid it if at all possible. Besides, if it only went up to Astrid's killing of the Terror, it wouldn't be much help now.

"There's almost nothing from after the raid he shot Toothless down. It's all failed weapons. The only thing from after is the saddle and tail schematics." That was Ruffnut. Fishlegs had been increasingly surprised by the twins' lack of nonsense during the search. It was entirely unlike them. It was the most serious he had ever seen them.

"And the other notebooks are all either maps or smaller schematics. No journals except the picture one. If Hiccup had a more recent one, he probably had it on him when he left." Fishlegs sighed. They had separated things into two piles; A large pile was composed of unrelated stuff, and a much smaller pile was made up of things of interest. The book sat on top of that pile.

"Well, if we want to know more we'll have to..." Tuffnut trailed off. He stared at Ruffnut.

"Ask him ourselves." Ruffnut seemed depressed by that. "As if we could ever find him."

Fishlegs saw another problem with that. "Even if we knew where to look, why would we? We'd be risking being outcast ourselves if anyone found out, and it'd be pretty obvious when we were gone for months on end. Wherever he is, it's probably really far from here by boat."

Ruffnut stared at Tuffnut. They put their heads together. Fishlegs watched in confusion. Finally, they seemed to reach a decision.

Tuffnut addressed Fishlegs. "Look, Fishlegs. This kinda shines a new light on Berk, doesn't it? Think about it. We're all reviling and hating someone whose only crime was...?" He seemed to want Fishlegs to answer.

"Well...hiding a dragon?" Fishlegs wasn't sure what they were getting at.

"Wrong. They still don't know about that." That was Ruffnut. "So what does everyone hate him for?"

"I don't know... there's no reason! He showed dragons were capable of being friendly, he found the Nest, killed the Queen! Then Stoick..." Fishlegs trailed off. He continued softly. "Stoick gave him an ax, and said to kill the crippled one because they raided us for three hundred years... that was Toothless. Stoick told Hiccup to kill his best friend. And Hiccup snapped. He told everyone exactly what he thought, and kicked himself out of the tribe, out of his own family. And he flew off." Fishlegs was horrified, but he still didn't get what the twins were getting at. "I don't know!"

"There was no reason. That's the point." Ruffnut's voice was soft. "Our entire tribe hates him... because he showed that what they were doing was wrong. And they didn't want to listen. They still haven't listened. Everyone heard what he said, about the Queen being the cause of the raids. But we still kill every dragon we can find. Astrid leads hunts for them. Snotlout is the heir. Stoick wants his own son dead." She seemed sad. "Why should we stay, when Hiccup left?" She stared at Fishlegs. "There's something wrong here. Something wrong with a village where the entire population kills without reason. Where the insane and power hungry are in charge. Haven't you noticed? You can feel it in the air, now. Before, it was necessary. We killed to survive. Now, we kill because it is what we have always done. And they don't care. We were all capable of seeing it, but no one cares."

Ruffnut noticed Fishlegs' look of shock. "We aren't stupid. Why do you think we spend time here now? With Hiccup gone, the village feels like it's missing something. Villagers have always done things this way, but now there's no point. Everything is different, and we were the only ones to notice. People are still preparing ships for the Nest hunt, for gods sakes! What are they gonna do with them? We know where the Nest is! There's nothing there!" Ruffnut was ranting now. "I didn't know what was wrong before, but now I do. This village will not change. They refuse to. We all had the truth shoved in our face, and Hiccup changed everything. And what does the village do? Revile Hiccup, ignore what he showed them, and keep doing what they've always done."

Fishlegs understood now. He had noticed something too but had dismissed it. "So what do we do? Try to get them to change?"

Tuffnut laughed scornfully. "Right. Hiccup stood with a Night Fury on either side of him and said dragons could be friendly. That should have been the best proof ever! We have no proof except for the little we got from Hiccup's stuff. We still don't know much ourselves! We kinda know what he figured out, but we have no proof. Just a really cool picture book. And Vikings aren't big readers." He shook his head. "We can't change Berk. They don't want to change. Ruff and I are masters of chaos. In other words, masters of change, disorder. This place won't change. We don't want to live in a place like that."

Ruffnut shook her head. "We're gonna get a boat somehow, and leave. We were already planning to. We've had eight months of feeling weird in the village. Thorstons sometimes just disappear; no one would worry." She grinned. "And now we have an actual goal. Find Hiccup, and get him to tell us everything. It must be the coolest story ever!"

Fishlegs thought about that. About the disturbingly insightful ranting of Ruffnut. About what they had said. "Wait. Wait until I can tell you where to start looking. You'll never find him if you just sail off. And when I find something... I'll go with you. Because you're right."

Tuffnut shook his head. "For us, it's normal. Mom will wish us luck, and no one else will care. But if you disappear, you're gonna have a lot of trouble coming back without a lot of questions being asked. You sure you can handle a first-class interrogation? Sometimes Stoick shouts for an hour straight!" He shivered. "Ruff, remember the time we hid his ax? He wouldn't let us leave until we told him where it was. He yelled himself blue in the face!"

Fishlegs considered that while the twins reminisced. What would he do if they found Hiccup? Would he really come back to Berk? Back to a place that looked in the near future to be ruled by Astrid and Snotlout? "I don't know. But I don't care. I'm going with you, once we figure out where to go."

Ruffnut and Tuffnut grinned. "Fine. How are we going to figure out which direction to go?" Tuffnut seemed to think. "Johann, maybe? He might have heard something."

Fishlegs was once again astounded. That was exactly what he had been thinking. Johann was due any day now. Actually, he was a bit late. "Yes, actually. Exactly what I was thinking." It might have been a plan relying totally on Trader Johann, which was never a good idea, but it was still a plan.

Fishlegs was by the docks. Ever since he and the twins had decided to leave Berk to find Hiccup, he had been ready to go on a moment's notice. He had all his money, some food, and his hammer on him at all times. He also had Hiccup's notebook. It had been two days. He found himself loitering by the docks more and more. He was currently watching the ships being prepared for the Nest hunt.

That had been a shock. He hadn't known Ruffnut was serious. What were they doing? He saw Astrid overseeing something further down the dock.

Snotlout put his full future authority behind her, and that gave her a lot of unofficial power. No one had ever respected Hiccup enough for him to have the unspoken authority that was technically his right when he was the heir. Not that he had cared.

Fishlegs was torn. On the one hand, he was scared stiff of Astrid ever since finding out she really was insane. It was extremely hard to see, but he noticed some very subtle signs, now that he knew where to look. Unhealthy obsessions, rapid mood swings, cold rage for no reason. All things he knew from his few interactions with Dagur. He shuddered. Yeah, he was really scared of Astrid now. On the other hand, he did want to know what they were going to do now that the Nest was known and empty. He conquered his fear and approached her.

"Uhh, Astrid? What are you doing?" He tried to make his tone as prompting and sincere as possible.

"Making sure the boats are watertight. Don't want to lose any on the search." She was twirling her ax and was still looking at the boats.

"But, what is there to search for? We know where the Nest is." Astrid whirled in anger. Then she smiled. Yeah, that wasn't creepy at all.

"There are still dangerous dragons out there. Night Furies, for example. We'll hunt for their nest, wherever it is, and destroy them there. Hopefully, we can wipe that species out entirely." Astrid was smiling as she explained. "There aren't many of them, by all accounts."

Fishlegs, armed with the knowledge that dragons were probably something more than animals, was understandably horrified by Astrid's genocidal plans. But, as he was already hiding so much fear at the moment, it didn't show in his voice. "Oh. Well, I just wanted to know where you were going to go. Cool. Well, see you later!" He scurried off.

Fishlegs was in his room, working on something he just couldn't get right. How would he keep his parents from worrying, but not tell them where he was going, or what he was doing? He looked at his latest attempt.

_'Mom and dad, I just want you to know I'm fine. I'm not dead, and I haven't been kidnapped or anything. I left of my own free will, and I promise to come back someday. I don't know when that will be though. I left with the Thorston twins. No, they didn't trick me into going. I found out what they were planning on doing on their trip, and asked if I could come. I can't tell you what we'll be doing, I've been sworn to secrecy. I will be back. Love, Fishlegs.'_

It wasn't very good, but it covered the essentials. Right now he was trying to figure out a way to make it more reassuring, without giving any more detail. He was interrupted by a knock on the door.

"Fishlegs!" It was Ruffnut, screaming from the doorway. "Johann's finally here!" Fishlegs jolted to his feet, and raced to Ruffnut, still with everything he needed to travel on him. He left the note on his desk.

An hour later, the boat was finally deserted enough that they could actually talk to Johann. But before they did, he started on his sales spiel. Fishlegs wanted to get right to the point, but Johann still had one other customer, Mildew. Mildew and Johann were haggling now. Fishlegs wasn't sure why Johann wanted any of Mildew's cabbage, but he was arguing fiercely over how much cabbage was worth a new plow. They settled on an amount, and Johann sent Mildew away with his plow. He turned to Fishlegs and the twins.

"Obnoxious bugger, but his cabbage is still food, no matter how revolting." He noticed the three. "Ah, master Fishlegs!" He eyed the twins. "And you two. I've got my eye on you."

Tuffnut and Ruffnut were in that strangely serious mood again, judging by the lack of taunts and jokes. Fishlegs only saw this side of them when their trip was involved. It was almost scary how different they could be when things were serious enough.

"We aren't here to prank or steal. We have a much more important goal." That was Ruffnut.

Trader Johann was taken aback by their serious tone. He had never seen this side of them. "Well, what are you here for?"

Fishlegs took over. "We're here to ask you some things. First, have you heard any odd rumors lately?" He cleared his throat. "Maybe about a boy with dragons?"

Johann looked confused. "Err... no, can't say I have."

Tuffnut slumped. "None at all? Nothing unusual involving dragons at all?"

Johann seemed really confused now, as he stared at the defeated-looking teen. "No, the strangest news by far is what I've heard here. And that is almost nothing." He looked shrewdly at Fishlegs. "It feels like something is being left unsaid."

Fishlegs squirmed. He hated lying. He was saved by a shriek. It sounded like his mother... and that was when he remembered he had left the note on his desk. "Oh no." He looked at the twins. "Guys, we're out of time. We need to go now, or I'm never going to be able to leave. I think my mom found my note, the one I was working on." Johan stared as the twins grinned.

"Fishlegs, you've been ready to go at all times. You didn't think we'd do the same?" Tuffnut hoisted his mace and a discrete bag at his waist. "We're always ready."

Fishlegs turned to Trader Johann. "Johann, I promise to explain everything, including some stuff no one else knows. But only if you take us with you. We need passage anywhere but here. Like, now." He thanked his family luck that he still had Hiccup's notebook, the picture one. He didn't want to leave that behind.

Johann raised his eyebrows. "Why, master Fishlegs, I'm not really in the practice of taking passengers..." Fishlegs stopped him there.

"We don't have time to argue. Things are happening that you aren't aware of, and we're willing to pay whatever you want."

Johann considered Fishlegs, who looked desperate but determined. Then he considered the twins, who were acting more serious than he thought possible. It was possible that they might be running from a crime, but while he would believe that of the twins, Fishlegs' presence made that unlikely.

Johann was a trader, and a collector of information. The part of him that needed to know everything there was to know wouldn't let him disregard Fishlegs's promise. Besides, he could always sail them back to Berk if he needed to, no harm done.

"Okay. You can explain later, and we can discuss payment then. Right now, I think you need to hide." He rushed to a pile of cloth. "Hide under here. I was going to shove off in an hour anyway, and Stoick knows that. It won't be suspicious." Fishlegs and the twins jumped behind the cloth.

Johann headed the searchers off, dissuading them from searching his ship without ever saying that he did not know where the missing teen was. He was confirmed in his suspicions that there was something more going on by the fact that Mrs. Ingerman didn't know where Fishlegs was planning on going. In an hour he cast off, and once he was out of sight of Berk, he rounded on the three teens. "Someone needs to tell me what I just roped myself into!"

**_Author's Note:_ ** **The book was actually hinted at very obscurely a few times in previous chapters, in case anyone thinks it's a random plot device (well, it is, but I needed a catalyst. At least this one is logical).**


	33. Chapter 33

Fishlegs pulled out Hiccup's notebook. It was such a small gesture, here on a boat filled with various trade goods, slowly pulling away from Berk, surrounded by far more impressive books. A small thing, but one of the things that had set them on this path.

Johann saw how all three teens cringed slightly at the mere sight of it and shied away himself. "What, exactly, is that?"

Fishlegs met Johann's eyes. "Johann, I know you like telling stories, but you're going to have to swear to us you won't repeat any of what we're about to tell you."

Johann did like to talk, but he knew serious business when he saw it and knew how to keep his mouth shut, which was the only reason Fishlegs was trusting him. "I swear. Now, what in Thor's name is going on?"

Fishlegs held out the book. "This was made by Hiccup. He didn't show it to anyone, we found it in his stuff. It's all true."

Tuffnut interjected. "Whatever you do, don't look at the last page." He sounded entirely serious, and a little nauseous.

Johann took a few steps back and sat down on a barrel. He opened the book to the first page. Fishlegs knew that the first page was just a rough sketch of a Night Fury. Johann turned the page, accidently skipping the introduction, and paused. "Hiccup is quite the artist..." He seemed to dread what he would see next. He turned the page, and sighed. "I figured as much. He was never like everyone else. But this..." He turned the page again and frowned at it. He turned a few more pages, and his face lifted with wonder at each new image.

Fishlegs could tell when Johann reached the confusing part. He wondered what came after. They had never actually checked. Johann turned a page. And another, and more in rapid succession. "It just goes blank! Why'd he have to stop writing there, of all places!"

Fishlegs was surprisingly relieved at that information. He wanted to warn Johann, who was rapidly approaching the end of the book in his frustration, but he also needed Johann to see what they had seen. So he said nothing.

Johann reached the last page. His eyes widened. His face slowly drained of blood. One would have to be completely battle-hardened to not be affected by that last page, and that did not describe Johann in the slightest.

"Oh.. Dear..." Johann stood and ran to the side of the ship. Fishlegs knew what came next. He closed the book that Johann had left lying on the barrel, having no desire to lose his lunch again.

"Hey, I warned you. Don't worry, we all puked when we saw that." Tuffnut was consoling if a little smug. Clearly, he had been worried that Johann would be able to stomach what he and Ruffnut could not.

Johann returned from the side of the boat, face still pale. "Did that last part really happen like that?" Fishlegs nodded.

"We were in the arena. She kicked the Terror off of Tuffnut's nose, breaking it in the process. We all were focused on Tuffnut, except for Hiccup. He was watching Astrid. But we all heard it, and saw the results." Fishlegs shivered.

Johann sighed. "I'm afraid that disturbingly well-drawn book raises far more questions than answers." He looked at them. "And I'm guessing the need for secrecy has to do with the information written on that last page. Assuming a dragon really can smell insanity and tell someone about it." He seemed to realize something. "Hiccup is no longer around, I take it. He is either dead or gone, judging by the events depicted in the book." Johann seemed sad about that.

"Nah, Hiccup's fine. We just don't know where he is." With that comment from Ruffnut, the teens explained everything they knew to Johann. It took a while. Johann listened intently throughout the piecemeal narrative.

"Well... you three might be in luck!" The teens all jumped at that. Johann smiled as he rummaged through a stack of personal belongings in the back. He didn't continue until he found the things he was looking for. "I have two things that I was unaware would be of any use, until today." He set a piece of parchment on the barrel. "I acquired this in a village known as Thalde a month ago, on my way here from the deep southern islands. I'm friends with a mapmaker, who keeps me up to date on anything new he finds. I thought this was total rubbish, but he insisted it was right."

Fishlegs examined the map. It was a fairly standard one of the local archipelago, showing Berk, the neighboring islands... and the Nest? "How did he know that the Nest was there?"

Johann slammed another map down on the barrel triumphantly. "And he had the gall to give me this, what I thought was a purely fictional map. Because no one had been to the Nest." He was laughing now. "I'm afraid I actually insulted him for offering me this. I'll have to offer my sincerest apologies next time I see him."

Fishlegs stared at the accurate map of the Nest island, down to the Queen's corpse. "Yup, this is right. No Berkian has left Berk since then. Except for Hiccup, and now us."

Tuffnut laughed. "Wait, Hiccup's love of maps is what's letting us find him? That's hilarious!" He cut off when Johann frowned.

"I'm afraid my friend got the information for these maps a little over seven months ago, according to him. So the trail is seven months cold." Johann smiled slightly. "However, I also acquired something that I thought was a coincidence up until now at a different island a mere two months ago. It was offered in trade by a Viking, and I took it because of a remarkable similarity to something I already had." He pulled out a spyglass.

Ruffnut pointed at it. "Hiccup makes those sometimes." She seemed nonplussed. "He's given you a few over the years. Someone must have just traded one back to you."

Johann nodded. "That's what I thought because this is so similar to the ones I have. But look at the initials!" He turned it over. Instead of the H.H. that should have been there, there was an S.F. etched instead. "I thought to show it to Hiccup. I was of the opinion that someone had started manufacturing these based on one I had traded away. But now, I think it is more likely this was made by Hiccup himself."

Tuffnut took the spyglass and examined it. As he was looking into the wrong end, he asked a surprisingly intelligent question. "What does S.F. stand for?"

Fishlegs thought about that. "Maybe the smith he's working with, or maybe it's just so that no one tracks him by his name."

Ruffnut laughed. "So, Johann, where'd the spyglass come from?" She seemed excited that they now had somewhere to go.

Johann pulled out a map. "Here." He pointed at an island labeled 'Mahelmetan'. It's actually where I'm heading now. It's part of a line I pass over twice a year." Johan drew a line from Berk to Mahelmetan, crossing over two islands along the way. "Actually, Thalde is one of the islands on the way. The other is more of a stopover point for boats than an island, most of the island is covered in mead hall and docks. He put his finger on Berk. "We are here today." He moved it in an arc to Thalde. "Here in two weeks, where I'll stop for a day." He moved it to the port island. "Here two to three weeks after that." And he moved his finger to Mahelmetan. "And here two weeks after that. One, if the wind is good. So all in all, six to eight weeks total." He smiled at the groans that elicited from the twins. "And as for payment, how does rowing when there's no wind sound? It will help my aching back, and make sure we get there in six weeks, instead of eight."

Fishlegs couldn't believe that Johann was letting them off with just that as payment. "Really? That's all you want?"

Johann laughed. "I was going there anyway, so it's no inconvenience. The rowing is payment enough for the extra food we'll need. I wasn't kidding about my back." He considered the deck, and then his tiny cabin. "I hope you don't mind sleeping on deck."

Fishlegs was pleasantly surprised that the twins' new seriousness mostly held on the two week trip to Thalde. They were still silly and rude, but they restrained themselves from doing anything destructive. He figured they didn't want to jeopardize their only ride. Whatever the reason he was grateful. He enjoyed listening to Johann's many stories, and Johann apparently had been in the habit of telling them to the empty ocean anyway, and much preferred having listeners. In that way, two weeks passed fairly pleasantly. They rowed some days when the wind was not favorable, but no one minded. It was something to do. Fishlegs was still happy to stretch his legs when they reached Thalde.

Johann had sent him to meet the map trader with his sincerest apologies. Fishlegs was thankful for that unintentional conversation-starter Johann had given him and the twins. It would make things less awkward. He followed the directions Johann had given and soon found a Viking with a strangely high-pitched voice behind a stand covered in maps.

"Hello, what can I do for you three?" The Viking had already given his spiel, and Fishlegs knew he wouldn't be able to take advantage of his deal with maps because Hiccup had already been here. Thankfully, he only needed one map, and he had money.

"We need a map of Mehelmetan and the surrounding area." Ruffnut and Tuffnut coughed in unison. "Oh, and trader Johann sends his sincerest apologies."

The cartographer froze. "He did, did he? Why did he apologize? Did he go and investigate my map himself?" He didn't seem angry with Johann. "I've been wondering if that boy pulled a fast one on me." He pulled a map from a stack and handed it to Fishlegs. Fishlegs handed over a couple of coins.

"No, the maps about the Nest are entirely accurate." Fishlegs felt like he should elaborate. "We're Berkians, and we've been there."

The map trader laughed. "So he was telling the truth. I shouldn't have doubted a fellow cartographer. Say, do you know the one who gave me the information? Strange fellow."

Ruffnut answered that. "Was he small, skinny, smart, and brown-haired?" She seemed to be interrogating the map trader.

He laughed slightly nervously. She was scaring him a bit. "Yes, that's the one. I say he was strange because a couple of the local kids were telling stories about him. They said he scared three of the tougher teens so bad they won't talk about what happened. From what I could tell, they deserved it."

Fishlegs thanked the man, and the three travelers left his stall.

"We're gonna find those teens, aren't we?" That was Tuffnut. He sounded happy about the prospect of future interrogations. "Next time I get to question the suspect."

Fishlegs nodded. "We might as well. We have some time to kill."

A few hours later, Fishlegs had to admit that that was all they had accomplished. Killing time. They had just finished talking to one of the three teenagers in question. He was entirely uncooperative, no matter what tactic Tuffnut and Ruffnut tried. He wouldn't say anything about whatever had happened. It had been the same with all three of them. The second they brought up a foreign teenager, they would pale and stop talking immediately.

"Gee, Hiccup must have scared the yak dung out of them." Tuffnut was despondent. "Now I really want to know what he did!"

Fishlegs was about to answer when a Viking about their age caught up to them as they walked back towards the docks. He looked at the boy, and a few things clicked in his head. Hiccup had done something to three teens. All three of them had given off 'Snotlout' vibes. Now there was an undersized Viking, catching up to them after they questioned one of the teenagers. He decided to call out his deduction.

"Let me guess. You're here to tell us about the mysterious stranger that saved you from three bullies in some crazy way?" Fishlegs figured he'd either look like a genius or an idiot.

The boy stumbled and almost fell. "How did you know that?"

Tuffnut grinned. "We are Thorston, Thorston and Ingerman, sleuths extraordinaire!" He whispered to Fishlegs. "Welcome to the company. We only pay in breadcrumbs. Hope you don't mind."

The boy grinned. He probably had heard Tuffnut. "Well anyway, yes. I assume you want to know what happened? I have a feeling you know more about the guy than I do. That's why I'm here."

Fishlegs coughed. They probably shouldn't tell the boy much. "We do, but most of it is best kept secret. What happened here?"

The boy frowned. "I guess I understand that. Anyway, the stranger got three bullies to stop beating me up and chase him. I followed them secretly. He led them into the woods and turned to face them. He said something about lessons in how not to be an idiot, and then a big black dragon dropped out of the trees and roared at them. One of them fainted, and the other two ran. I was still there. He talked to the dragon, and to another one just like it that also came from the trees. Then he said something about a race, and they all took off in the same direction, running really fast in the woods. That's all I know."

Ruffnut nodded. "That'd be the traditional Hiccup sarcasm." Tuffnut agreed.

"Yes, I'd say the sarcasm is a pretty good clue we're on the right track. That, and the two dragons. Pretty big clue there too." He punched Ruffnut. "Maybe next time lead with the obvious clues. If you lead with the subtle ones, the obvious clues aren't impressive anymore!"

Fishlegs decided it was safe to give the kid a little information. "His name is Hiccup. He came from our island. We're trying to find him."

The kid definitely understood keeping certain things discrete. "Is everyone from your island... like that?"

Tuffnut answered first. "Yes, and I'm our leader! The man with a thousand dragons, they call me."

"Terrible Terrors," Ruffnut added quickly. "They swarm around him like flies." She mock-shuddered.

Fishlegs sighed. "No," he glared at the twins, "Hiccup is the only one. That's why he left. No one else would listen to him."

The kid nodded. "I know how that feels. I hope you find him." He turned down a side street as Fishlegs and the twins kept walking, casting a dubious glance at the twins as he did.

Fishlegs ignored the twins as they argued. They knew Hiccup had been here. Apparently, he was still traveling with the two Furies. Toothless, and whatever the other one was called.

But that had been a while ago.

By the time they reached the island of docks and mead halls, Fishlegs felt like he could use something to dull his senses. The trip there had been almost all rowing, and he and the twins were exhausted. But he valued his brain and dignity to do more than sit in the hall and order some chicken. The twins were out exploring the small island. Fishlegs figured it'd take them a grand total of twenty minutes. He listened to a nearby conversation. After a few minutes, he started paying close attention.

"Night Fury? Two of them no less. Thorgils musta been drinkin'!

"So I said! But he was sure. So we went lookin' and ran into a skinny guy in the woods. I asked 'im 'bout it, and he seemed to know where they were. So I told 'im we'd split the money fifty-fifty."

"Wow! For two Furies, you'd all live like kings for the rest o' yer lives!"

"I know! The little guy convinced me to cut Thorgils out o' the deal, so I knocked 'im out. But when the little guy told me where they were, he lied! He knocked me into a river!"

"What, why?"

"I'm not sure, but I met up with Thorgils a few days later. He said he had gone looking for the Furies once woke up. He said the little guy captured him on 'is own if you can believe it. Tied 'im up. Thorgils said that in the morning, two Furies erupted out of the sand. The little guy had buried 'em!"

"You must have hit Thorgils pretty hard, for 'im to be talkin' nonsense like that."

"He was dead sure that's what happened. He said the little guy forced him to swear never to hunt a dragon again, and pick up a different line of work. That's what he was doin' when I ran into him. Said he swore on Odin himself. I still don't believe any of that happened."

Fishlegs left the Mead Hall trying to hold in his excitement. They were getting closer, he could feel it. He had no idea when the events spoken of had occurred, or where, but that didn't matter. They were getting closer.

"Ah, Mahelmetan, my favorite of all the islands I travel to!" Johann was giving his opening speech to a crowd of Mahelmetans on the dock around his ship. Fishlegs, Ruffnut, and Tuffnut hopped off and went into the village. It was a small village but had a bustling sea trade. They headed to the blacksmith shop, spyglass in hand.

The blacksmith in question was an old woman, surprisingly. She had red hair and was more muscular than anyone Fishlegs had seen on the entire island. She had a surprisingly melodic voice for someone who worked around smoke and fire all day, hammering metal into shape. They could hear her singing from a block away.

Fishlegs approached the order window. "Um, hello?"

The blacksmith paused her singing and walked over to the window. "Yes, what do you need done?" She saw the spyglass in Fishlegs' hand. Her eyes narrowed slightly. "Do you need me to look at that?" She sounded like she knew that wasn't why he had it, and she wasn't happy about what he was going to ask.

"Um, my fair lady, would you happen to know who made this?" Tuffnut had picked up on her reluctance and was doing his best to win her over. She glared at him, and he wilted.

"I do, but why should you care?" She sounded quite suspicious.

Fishlegs decided to lay their cards on the table, figuratively speaking. "We're looking for a friend. His name's Hiccup."

Ruffnut elbowed him. "You're not supposed to just ask for him like that. You need to be subtle in the sleuthing business." That had been whispered, so quietly Fishlegs could barely hear it.

The blacksmith's face scrunched up in confusion. "I don't know any Hiccup. That was made by a friend of mine. His name's Maour." She sounded honest enough.

Fishlegs refused to give up. "What does he look like? Maour, I mean." He wasn't sure why Hiccup would randomly change his name to Maour. Hiccup hadn't even liked nicknames as a kid. But he refused to believe someone else just randomly duplicated Hiccup's work.

The blacksmith frowned. "Why should I tell you?" She glared at them suspiciously.

"Fine!" Ruffnut whirled away. "I mean, why should you help three potential customers look for their missing friend, a skinny guy with brown hair, green eyes, and a sarcastic streak?"

Tuffnut huffed. "Yeah, he might not be the brightest, but still, we're worried!" That was about when Fishlegs figured out what they were doing. The blacksmith, not knowing the twins, was not as fast on the uptake.

"Hey, Maour's plenty smart-" She stopped, her eyes narrowing.

Ruffnut whirled back, her face smug. "And that, my friend, is called leading someone on."

"Yes, you would not have objected to the lack of intelligence if he was as stupid as I described," Tuffnut continued for his sister, smiling, "and that in turn also implies 'Maour' has green eyes and brown hair, as you did _not_ object to that. The sarcasm too."

The blacksmith's eyes narrowed. "You tricked me."

"Obviously," Tuffnut muttered.

"I'll not have you harassing him. He's never done anything wrong that I'm aware of, and I like having him around." Her voice was threatening. She picked up a pair of pincers and brandished them menacingly.

Fishlegs gulped and backed away. "That's our friend, and we definitely mean him no harm. We've been trying to find him for two months! Do you know where he lives?" Ruffnut and Tuffnut glanced at each other excitedly.

The blacksmith took in the joy written on their faces and sighed. "No, I don't. He comes in once a month or so. He'll be here in a few days if he sticks to his pattern. He's been with me for four months now, so I don't see why he wouldn't."

Fishlegs thanked her for her help, though it had been given involuntarily. "We'll be around, so hopefully we'll run into him." He didn't really want to admit that they'd be staking out the blacksmith's shop night and day. That might seem a bit excessive, but Hiccup did have a habit of secrecy. They didn't want to miss him. Plus, it wasn't like they had anything else to do. But first, they went back to the dock, where Johann was packing up to shove off, and begin the next leg of his journey. Fishlegs tossed him the spyglass, and he caught it with a smile. "I take it you found him?"

Fishlegs smiled back as he responded. "Not quite, but we know he'll be here in a few days. Thanks for the help, Johann!"

Johann rolled up a rope he had been picking up. "I take it you'll be staying here. Tell Hiccup he's always got a friend in Johann, and that I can keep a secret where he is concerned. Although, If he ever wanted to make a fortune, just have him finish that book and make copies for me to trade." Johann laughed. "Quite the amazing art, and a true story too! Although he should maybe tone the last page down a little. It would give kids nightmares. It gave me nightmares!" He waved to Ruffnut and Tuffnut, and they waved back. "See you three around, wherever you might end up!" They left the docks and found an inn that would rent them a room.

Fishlegs calculated that they had money for room and board for five days at most. After that, they would be sleeping in the fields around the village, or the small rocky woods on the other side of the island.

He hoped Hiccup would get there soon. Their journey was almost over. He, Ruffnut and Tuffnut spent the next two days staking out the forge.

Nothing.

Then the third day arrived. Ruffnut was the first to spot him, walking towards the forge. "Is that him?" She sounded uncertain.

Fishlegs didn't blame her for that. He couldn't see the face, because the person was wearing a heavy coat with a hood. Under the coat and gloves, it looked like the same general shape of the boy they knew. They were sure once he entered the forge and hung up his outer layer. It was Hiccup.

"So, do we just walk up to him?" Ruffnut did not sound like she preferred the simple approach.

Before Fishlegs could answer, Tuffnut scoffed. "This is a moment we've been working towards for months, sister! Have you no sense of drama?"

It was a rare occasion when Fishlegs agreed with Tuffnut, but it did happen. This moment could be more dramatic. It wouldn't hurt, and the end of their journey should be cool. "So what do we do?"

Tuffnut's jaw dropped. He turned to Ruffnut. "We have been given permission."

Ruffnut nodded. "I heard it too. Have we corrupted him?"

Fishlegs was rapidly regretting his agreement. "Hold on, nothing too crazy!"

Tuffnut shrugged. "Fine." He turned to Fishlegs. "A question. How did Hiccup get here?"

"By… dragon, I assume." Why ask that?

Ruffnut smiled. "And where is it now?"

Fishlegs pointed towards the single scrawny forest on the edge of the island. "Probably…" What the twins were proposing hit him. "I'm going to regret this, aren't I?"


	34. Chapter 34

'How did last night's session go, by the way?' Toothless asked, his wingbeats strong and sure, out over the ocean. They had been flying for quite a while, and it was near dawn. Maour always quibbled with Toothless that the trip to the forge here was _slightly_ longer than going to the forge on Berk had been, in the way that an all-night flight was slightly longer than two minutes.

"Nóttleiðtogi was good," Maour's voice was light, "if that's what you're asking. No snarling, no death threats, no physical attacks. Just like every other time."

'You know that's not… the only thing I was asking,' Toothless amended.

Maour sighed. "Bud, you and I both know it's going to take time, more than a few months." A few months of meeting Nóttleiðtogi at least twice a week and working on the Nótt Fury's issues. After that first session, their progress was much slower, if steady. It would probably be years before Nóttleiðtogi was truly comfortable around Maour to the degree they were aiming for. That was fine. Some things just took time, and they did have time, so that was no issue.

'I know.' Toothless paused before continuing. 'Still, it was good?'

"As good as could be expected. He's slowly getting used to the sight of me, at least." It had been surprising how difficult that particular facet of Nóttleiðtogi's issues was. Nóttleiðtogi still flinched whenever he saw Maour, though it was so subtle Maour hadn't been able to see it until Nóttleiðtogi had described it. That flinch still happened, but Nóttleiðtogi said it was getting easier to control. Small steps.

'Maybe I could come along,' Toothless began, his voice innocent. 'Just to see how much progress you two have already made.'

Maour laughed. "No. You're just trying to get me into trouble." When Eldurhjarta had caught wind of what Maour was doing with Nóttleiðtogi, she had pulled him aside… and forced him to swear that he wouldn't repeat anything Nóttleiðtogi told him without the Fury's permission. She had been muttering something about a 'healer's oath' the entire time. His objection that he wasn't a healer had not dissuaded her. Toothless did not take being cut entirely out of the loop on that particular activity very well, and had been trying to worm his way back into eavesdropping or listening in through Maour's senses ever since.

'Is it my fault I want to see what Eldurhjarta would do if you broke that oath?' Toothless asked innocently. 'She certainly seemed angry when Shadow suggested she take it herself, after hearing about everyone's injuries from Eldurberg one time too many.'

Maour had not heard about that. "You know, that might explain where she got the idea, and why there has been a suspicious lack of information from Eldurberg recently." He had never known just how many accidents happened on a daily basis until he had met Eldurberg, who sneakily passed on his healer sister's every gripe about stubborn patients. Apparently, strained wings were common, almost as common as dragons trying to fly with strained wings and making the injury worse, despite Eldurhjarta's instructions to rest them, and so on…

'Yes, she sees you as a healer of the mind, I think.' Toothless chortled at that. 'Funny.'

"You say that, but I'm doing pretty well." Maour didn't think of himself like that. He was helping Nóttleiðtogi because he was the only one who could, not because he was good at it.

'What's funny is that she thinks you're moving in on her territory,' Toothless explained. 'I expect us to be called in for a round of questioning on the mind soon, so she can pump you for everything you know.'

"We'll be out of there in five minutes, so no problem." Maour smiled. "And if she expands her knowledge to cover mental issues too, then so much the better."

'Fair.' Toothless glanced back at Maour. 'Did Berk have a healer who knows about that stuff?'

"Gothi?" Maour considered that. "I don't know what she knows. Probably not. Vikings hit their heads on rocks for fun. She would probably have given up in despair if she tried to understand that." Gothi had always struck him as intelligent… and silent, creepy, not to mention reclusive. Who in their right mind had their house built halfway up a mountain?

'I still don't understand that,' Toothless remarked. 'Is it fun?'

"Maybe after you've done it a few times, you'll be brain-damaged enough to think it's fun," Maour mused.

'We're there,' Toothless said after a few minutes. 'Finally.'

Maour snapped back to the present, dismissing his half-formed thoughts on mental issues and the ramifications of Berk's only healer being possibly crazy herself. The island village of Mahelmetan, the closest island with a village and therefore forge, was a smudge on the dark horizon.

About half an hour later, they landed in the old and tangled outcropping of a forest, the only such patch on the island of fields. Maour understood why that was now, having asked around. Mahelmetan had built up a thriving lumber industry but didn't understand the process of replanting very well. They gave up and switched to animal husbandry once they realized the trees weren't growing back. Maour was just glad there was still some forest left. He and Toothless sat there and waited for the sun to rise.

Neither of them minded the prospect of having flown all night, working all day, and then flying back the next night. These thirty-six-hour trips didn't bother Maour now. He wouldn't feel it, and after a full day's rest he would be back to full energy. Just like Toothless. That had turned out to be another ability the bond transferred over after a while left open.

Toothless wouldn't be sleeping today, either. They were here to do something both of them had been looking forward to, and Toothless was going to be involved in this particular project. He already had been. They had waited until now for a reason. Two, in fact.

The last time he had been here, Maour had found something quite odd in the forge. It was a hunk of metal that was not the normal color of iron, but almost a smoky purple. He had immediately asked the smith, whose name was Framja, what it was. She had said she bought it out of curiosity from a trader. It was apparently stronger than iron, much lighter, and could hold a much sharper point. She said she didn't really have a use for it, because no one requested new weapons from her. They just wanted old ones repaired.

Maour had immediately bought it off of her and had voluntarily paid her more than she paid for it, which had been possible because with the fresh-caught fish Toothless often caught each visit for Maour to sell, he had a fair amount of gold. He had brought the metal back to Toothless, who had been sleeping in the forest. He hadn't even had to say what he wanted to use it for.

They had spent hours back at home designing the new scythe. Maour and Toothless took the time to make many small improvements, and one big one. The scythe would be made using this smoky purple metal, and the navy-blue staff Maour had had for months. That, Maour reflected as he twirled the staff, was what they were going to be doing today. Finally making the new scythe.

The sun had risen. Maour turned to Toothless. "Looks to be about time. Ready to become a random lump in the forest?" He was smiling. This always looked hilarious.

Toothless sighed. 'If I must.' He turned and located a depression in the forest floor, proceeding to sit in it, making himself small.

Maour grabbed a bunch of branches and pine needles and covered Toothless. When he was done, he suppressed a laugh. "What do you think?"

Maour quickly turned so that he was looking at a similar but entirely natural lump nearby on the forest floor. He could feel Toothless access his senses.

'Looks very realistic. Nice job.'

Maour smiled and walked over to the natural pile. "Don't move." He jabbed the staff down into the pile and Toothless gave an embarrassing squawk of alarm, thinking his rider was stabbing him.

Hiccup smirked. "Oops. I did so good of a job that even _I_ forgot which pile was the real one."

Toothless groaned. 'I am officially promising, before we take off, to play with you like a cat playing with an injured rabbit. Now show me my cover for real.'

Maour smiled in victory as he turned.

'That's me, right?'

Maour figured the fact that Toothless couldn't be sure meant he had done a good job. "Yup. That one's you. It isn't suspicious at all, except for the weird noise it made a second ago."

'Keep talking, rabbit, and see what happens.'

Maour chuckled as he walked out of the small patch of forest, and across the fields to the village. "You sounded like a large chicken. A chicken with a deep voice." He was trying to keep a straight face and failing, gesturing for emphasis as he walked.

'No comment.' Toothless seemed to be trying not to laugh. 'Let's focus on the task at hand.'

"Sure, when we get there. For now, let's talk about your chicken impressions."

'Shut up. Or I'll tell Von about the noise you made when I accidentally stepped on you. Maybe get you to recreate it.'

Maour winced. "Shutting up." Toothless laughed. Maour had reached the village anyway, and he didn't really want to be seen as crazy here. He had to come back every once in a while. A reputation for being crazy would be annoying.

He walked through the town, heading for the blacksmith. One of the nice things about this particular village was that they had a thriving trade business. As such, there were always a few foreigners around. No one questioned who Maour was, or when he had gotten there. They were used to unfamiliar faces. It made Maour feel safer, hidden in anonymity. He entered the blacksmith's shop and hung up his flight coat and gloves, putting on an old apron. "What have you got for me this time, Framja?"

Toothless had to comment, though he knew he wouldn't be heard. 'And make it quick, we have work to do!'

"Rude." Maour muttered to himself. Framja turned and smiled.

"Always good to see you, Maour. I've only got two swords; they're meant for a wedding ceremony and need to be engraved. That's it, business has been slow. Got any personal work today?" She eyed the purple metal and navy-blue staff he had set by his things. "Something interesting, from the looks of that. Never seen wood that color." She was of course already familiar with the metal. Maour smiled.

"Yeah, I still don't know what kind it is." He picked up two plain swords from off of the table Framja reserved for weapons needing detail work. "Anything specific?"

Framja shook her head. "No. Standard Viking wedding work."

That was fine. Hiccup quickly got to work. He knew what to engrave because he had done this before, and all Viking ceremonial swords tended to be unique in craftsmanship and quality, but not engraving. Vikings weren't the most imaginative people in the world. He set to work and finished them in about an hour. Now it was time for the scythe. He and Toothless set to work, Maour forging, and Toothless advising on the heat, and a few other things. Maour had set the schematics where Toothless could see them, in the hollow before Toothless had settled in. If he needed a reminder, he just accessed Toothless's vision for a moment. They worked, ignoring all else.

It might have seemed a bit odd if one was watching, as Maour was basically holding a conversation with himself, but the noises of the forge drowned him out, so unless one was watching very closely, it wouldn't be apparent. That was good, because for something this complicated, Maour and Toothless had to work together as efficiently as possible.

An extremely complex mechanism with a sharp edge took shape, and then another. Then there was a concave spike, also with a hinge on the end. Maour made two of those. These incredibly minute specifications took an extraordinary amount of time to shape, but he made them without flaw, knowing he could not afford to make a mistake with this rare metal. Finally, he made two pins, also out of the purple metal. That done, he attached the blades to the blue staff and slid the spikes into place. Finally, he threaded the pins through the hinge between the two pieces on each end, and flattened the ends, locking them in place. He held up the finished scythe.

"What is that?" That was Framja, who was staring in awe. It certainly looked impressive. "I've never seen any weapon like that." It looked like Maour's previous scythe, but the spikes were concave on the underside, and there was a subtle bulge where the two pieces of each blade were joined with a seemingly useless hinge. The blades did not rotate about the hinge; they were locked in place by something. Maour smiled.

"It's a weapon I call a Scythe. This one's an improved version of my last one." He placed his hand on the sides of the top blade piece of metal, near the hinge, and squeezed. The spike abruptly pivoted down and locked with an audible click against the other side of the staff. He did the same to the bottom. The spikes had been shaped to rest flush against the cylindrical shape of the staff. The weapon was in this form much more compact, and less likely to randomly stab things with the spike end. That had been the main improvement. When closed, the staff resembled nothing more than a rod with strange, unwieldy caps of sharpened metal. Not quite a spear, it didn't seem like a finished weapon at all. The hinges were only noticeable when one looked closely.

Maour held the scythe in its locked form with both hands. He spun it clockwise for half a rotation, then abruptly stopped it, which caused the two spikes to swing out and lock in place. From a half-finished weapon to deadly scythe in an instant. He laughed. "I wasn't sure if that'd work. Got it right first time."

Framja voiced her disbelief. "I don't know if that thing's safe to use."

Maour just smiled. "It isn't until you learn how. Watch." He walked to the back door and stepped into the alley. Plenty of space, and no one around to see or accidentally get hurt by him. "It's been a while."

He started swinging the scythe, slowly at first to be sure he still had the muscle memory. He did, and he was soon moving at top speed, eventually closing his eyes in concentration. He had missed this, the feeling of having a weapon he knew well in his hands. It was a feeling of safety and self-sufficiency. Not necessary right now, but maybe in the future.

'You still have the skill you developed all that time ago. Now you can start improving your skill with it again.' Toothless was extremely satisfied with the finished product he and his brother had ended up with. It had come out perfectly, despite a few snags in the process of making it.

"True," Maour agreed. He hefted the scythe and closed it. "So, Framja..?"

The female blacksmith shook her head. "You can use it. Why you want to is beyond me, but good for you." She hefted a hammer. "I'll stick to things that won't put my eye out while I'm using them."

Maour made to put the scythe into its holster, before realizing he didn't have a holster anymore. "Framja, you wouldn't happen to have any spare leather lying around, would you?"

"Some." Framja went back into the forge, and Maour followed. "Wha' do you need it for?"

"A holster." Maour took the proffered leather scraps and set about braiding them into something passable. He would probably make another, better one on their next trip out here, but this one just needed to do the job until then.

Maour was almost done with the impromptu holster when Toothless spoke up. 'Uh, Maour?'

"Yeah?" Maour cut a bit of errant leather off with a knife.

'You know the whole thing with numbers Fishlegs liked to do?' Toothless sounded confused.

"Plus three speed, and all of that?" Maour wasn't really sure why Toothless was bringing it up.

'Yeah, that. Is it common?' Toothless sounded almost urgent now.

"Fishlegs made it up, so no." Maour was beginning to get a bad feeling. He accessed Toothless's sense of hearing.

"...plus ten speed! We won't even see it if it doesn't want us to!"

"Relax, fishy, we are masters of infiltration-"

"-interrogation-"

"And exposition! Wait, no. Did we already say infiltration? I feel like there was a third 'i' word."

Maour felt a very odd blend of exasperation and slowly building fear. "That would be Fishlegs and the twins."

'But how are they here? Why are they here?' Toothless did not sound happy about that. 'They're getting closer.'

Both Maour and Toothless listened to Fishlegs and the twins argue as they walked past Toothless… and apparently gave up looking, right by his hiding spot. Perfect.

'This is bad.' Toothless probably wasn't happy about having to- 'One just stepped on me!'

"Did you move?" Maour wasn't sure what was going to happen.

'No.'

Maour hastily finished off the holster and put it on, settling his scythe into it. "I'm on my way."

'Why? They're probably here for you. Don't let them catch you.'

"We need to know how they found us, if they're here for me, which they are." Fishlegs had been talking about 'finding Hiccup' so that was pretty much guaranteed. He had not, however, spoken of capturing or killing Hiccup, which was slightly more encouraging.

As he spoke with Toothless, Maour began moving through the village, out of the forge and towards the distant forest. It would be a few minutes before he could get there.

'Maour, they're talking about surprising you… and finding me.' Toothless no longer sounded that worried. 'I think they're alone.'

That was at the same time both comforting and worrying. If those three were here, who was to say others from Berk weren't? Suddenly, every face needed to be checked, every Viking Maour passed a possible antagonist. He hurried his pace up a little. Until he knew what Fishlegs and the twins were doing here, and whether they were alone, Mahelmetan was not safe.

Something Toothless had said was brought back to Maour's attention. "Wait, they're looking for you?" Was Fishlegs really that stupid?

'Seems like it. They don't sound too worried either.'

"Well then, why don't you… keep them there?" Maour smiled. "If, of course, you're sure they're alone." It would be best to approach the situation from some position with the upper hand.

'One of them stepped on me a moment ago.' Toothless softly chuffed. 'Maybe I'll return the favor if they try to run.'

"This is a bad idea." Fishlegs turned in a full circle, trying not to be taken by surprise. "We are looking for a _Night Fury._ Why did I agree to this?"

"Because you trust us?" Ruffnut guessed.

Fishlegs glanced at Tuffnut, who was looking straight up into the tangled trees. "No, not at all."

"Because you were bored?" Tuffnut put his hands around his eyes, still staring up, as if to reduce the glare of the sun, though it was cloudy at the moment.

"Probably," Fishlegs admitted.

"Why are you complaining, anyway?" Ruffnut lifted a small rock and checked underneath it. "We haven't found it yet."  
Fishlegs was too nervous to point out the unlikeliness of a dragon hiding under a rock the size of Tufffnut's head. "I won't have time to complain if it kills us!"

"Why would it do that?" Tuffnut walked straight into a tree, still looking up. "Ow!"

"Yeah, it's all buddy-buddy with Hiccup." Ruffnut smirked. "Can't imagine it's that aggressive." She moved over to a pile of leaves and old pine needles and began sifting through it.

"Ruffnut, it's not going to-" Fishlegs began, before being interrupted by Ruffnut stiffening. "What?"

"Are… there any _other_ black rocks around?" Ruffnut asked frantically, scrambling back from the pile of pine needles. "Because if not…"

Fishlegs stared at the suspicious pile. "You found a scale?"

Ruffnut relaxed instantly. "Oh, right. A scale." She moved back to the pile and reached in. "A warm scale. Heavy, too. I can't move it at all."

Tuffnut gave up looking into the trees and began to pay attention. "Maybe it's stuck. Dig around it."

Fishlegs was beginning to get a bad feeling about this, though he didn't know why.

"Ooh, more scales. And skin between them!" Ruffnut moved to stand on the pile. "Leather over… here…" She trailed off, looking up with a horrible realization written across her face.

Fishlegs squeaked incoherently when the entire pile of leaves and pine needles exploded up and out, and Ruffnut rose about three feet into the air… sprawled across the lower back of a Night Fury.

Ruffnut looked down, and green eyes looked up at her. "So a lot of scales… and skin, and saddle, and live Night Fury." She looked around. "Any chance you can not throw me off?"

The Night Fury shook his head firmly.

"Then can you at least aim for something soft?"

In response, Ruffnut was bucked off, tumbling into Tuffnut, who was slammed against a tree by the impact. The Night Fury snorted in amusement.

"Thanks!" Ruffnut said brightly, getting up and dusting herself off. "And good aim."

"Night Furies never miss…" Fishlegs mumbled, regretting it instantly when the acid-green gaze was turned on him.

"Even when throwing smelly Vikings?" Tuffnut asked, woozily regaining his feet. "I think I inhaled some of her fumes."

Fishlegs supposed, with a kind of despairing acceptance, that it made sense the twins wouldn't be particularly worried right now. He was not so sure they were safe. It was well and good to say this Night Fury was probably fine, but facing it with no defense and no current proof was not so simple.

"So…" Ruffnut considered the situation. "Do we just wait for Hiccup?"

To everyone's surprise, the dragon nodded deliberately.

"Cool." Ruffnut started towards the dragon. "Can you give me a ride while-" She was cut off by a vicious snarl. "That's a no. Okay."

Fishlegs, only slightly encouraged by the reasonable responses of the Night Fury, slowly began to put a hand to his belt. His hammer was there, and he'd feel better with anything between himself and death by dragon, no matter how mediocre he might be with actually using the weapon.

"Rule number one of interacting with dragons," a familiar voice called out from behind Fishlegs. "Don't go for your weapon. They're faster than you, and watching for exactly that. If Toothless was hostile or actually felt threatened, you would all be-"

Fishlegs jerked his hand away just as a small plasma blast impacted in front of him.

Hiccup walked into sight, looking distinctly tense. "Dead. All because you went for a weapon, like any Viking would." The dragon nodded again, in agreement with that.

Fishlegs felt his face heat up. That was distinctly embarrassing. "Hey, Hiccup…"

"Well, we wanted a dramatic finale," Tuffnut muttered to Ruffnut.

"And boy are we getting one!" Ruffnut finished.

Hiccup ignored them. "Why are you here?"

This was a chance to defuse some of the tension, maybe. "We came looking for you."

Hiccup stiffened.

"Alone!" FIshlegs added hastily. "No one else even knows why we left, or where we were going."

"I'm more concerned in how you knew where _you_ were going," Hiccup abruptly said, his tone threatening. "How did you find this place?"

"Trader Johann had a spyglass," and at that Fishlegs noticed the Night Fury shaking his head, "one like you make, but with different initials."

"Don't say it Bud, I know you told me not to do that," Hiccup muttered.

"What?" Tuffnut asked uncertainly.

"Not talking to you," Hiccup glibly responded. "That's it?"  
"Well, we also found some people on another island that had run into you."

"Nice work, traumatizing people for life, H!" Ruffnut burst out. "Didn't think you had it in you!"

"That was your fault," Hiccup said, clearly addressing the Night Fury. "I might have started it, but it was you and Cloey who were on the roofs to start with!"

At the mention of an unfamiliar name, Fishlegs remembered the other piece of proof, and that he should probably say _why_ they had come looking, though Hiccup seemed more concerned with how. He pulled out the book.

Hiccup saw it immediately. "Oh. That. Knew I should have kept it with me."

"We wanted answers," Fishlegs admitted. "This showed that there are things we don't know."

"If I remember where I gave up on that, you don't know anything," Hiccup remarked wryly.

"Which is why we came looking." Tuffnut grinned. "Thorstons can never resist big secrets."

"Even when they contradict everything you believe?" Hiccup challenged.

"Aren't those the best to know?" Ruffnut retorted.

"That depends," Hiccup replied seriously, "on what you plan on doing with the knowledge. If I know Vikings, you'll hear it, ignore it, and change nothing."

"Berk did." Tuffnut frowned, suddenly serious. "That's why we left. We," he indicated his sister, who nodded, "were going to leave anyway. We're not going back to Berk."

Fishlegs fidgeted. "I promised in a note that I'd be back, but what I plan to do really depends on what you tell us here."

"And what do you think I'll tell you?" Hiccup put a hand on the Night Fury's nose, absently, as if not even needing to look to know where he was. "I'll be honest, I don't trust you."

A moment of silence, broken by a warble.

"I did say that," Hiccup admitted.

No one responded. Fishlegs recalled that Hiccup was communicating with the Night Fury in some way, but he had assumed communication would involve some sort of noise. Grunts, growls, not a single warble. There was no way that one sound conveyed any sort of complex idea, like Hiccup seemed to be responding too.

They were communicating… or Hiccup was crazy, and thinking that they were communicating. The only evidence Fishlegs had that didn't fit that was that the dragon had nodded in response to a spoken question.

"Okay," Hiccup began, "Toothless wants to see what you guys can handle. But we both know it's not that simple. There are things he and I need to protect."

"We promise not to tell anyone?" That felt wrong. If this was important, why wouldn't Hiccup want the information spread around?

"Not good enough. I need time to think this over." Hiccup looked up at the bits of sky visible through the trees. "And an hour or two isn't enough."

"Well Hiccup, can you just stay here until you've decided?" That seemed reasonable.

"No, we have to go." Hiccup grimaced. "And that's not my name anymore."

"Yeah, what's with the S.F. Hiccup?" Ruffnut grinned. "Didn't know you liked nicknames now."

"I don't, and that is not my name." Hiccup shook his head.

"Tell us what is then," Tuffnut retorted, crossing his arms.

"You can call me… Maour." Hiccup seemed annoyed at that, and the Night Fury snorted. "I don't really have a choice!"

Didn't have a choice? With telling them a name? Fishlegs was beginning to think there was something more going on. As if that wasn't already apparent, but there seemed to be layers of secrets, things of different magnitudes. This was a small one, which was unexpected.

"Maour," Hiccup repeated. "I can come back in..." A pause.

"I can be back on the morning of the third day from now," Hiccup decided.

Fishlegs sighed. "Are you sure? We're going to be sleeping in the woods. Our money for a room is almost gone, and we need to eat, so the rest of it will have to go to food for those days."

"Yeah Hiccup, what's the big deal?" Ruffnut didn't seem unhappy about the wait as much as extremely curious.

"The issue is, there are things that must be kept entirely secret for safety. My safety, but also a lot of other people's too. And I will not endanger them by even telling you where we are. So I'll come back. There really isn't any other option."

That was interesting, but Hiccup wasn't done.

"Don't make me choose between you and them. You're acquaintances; they're way more. And the name is Maour." With that, he vaulted into the saddle, and the Night Fury launched itself into the sky. In moments they had broken through the trees and were rapidly flying away, out of sight.

"That was abrupt," Tuffnut noted. "I think we make him uncomfortable now."

"Bro, we're from Berk, and he's an outcast. Not to mention his ride being of the 'kill on sight' variety." Ruffnut stared after the rider and dragon. "I guess we're waiting."

Fishlegs didn't really mind that. Hicc- no, Maour, had dropped way more hints than probably intended with that last outburst, and he wouldn't mind time to think on them.

Of course, Maour explaining everything immediately would have been even better than time to think, but that wasn't going to happen, it seemed.

"Well, I guess we get to wait. Man, the next two days are going to be really boring." Ruffnut brightened as an idea struck her. "Hey, if we're going to be sleeping here anyway, why not build an awesome fort to do it in? We can make it the best fort ever, with two whole days to work on it!"  
Fishlegs shrugged. Ruffnut was right, this was going to be a slow few days. He guessed he'd help the twins with the fort; it was true they needed somewhere to sleep and a way to pass the time. Two days. An eternity to spend in suspense.

**_Author's Note:_ ** **Well, this one really is a cliffhanger. Sorry?**


	35. Chapter 35

**_Author's Note:_ ** **Two milestones. The first is an interesting one. Last chapter, we hit 180,000 words for this story… which was about how long the original draft was. We're about 5 chapters away from the end. This story got quite a bit of expansion.**

**The second is that sometime around Sunday, this story passed 30,000 views!**

'What do we do now?' Toothless was wondering what his brother had in mind. 'They were the ones you said were most likely to have been able to change, once.'

Toothless had already reminded Maour of that, but best to be sure he kept that in mind now. He recognized that it would probably be good for his brother to have some human company on the island, but that was a huge level of trust to place on these three teens right now. The consequences far outweighed the gain if they turned out to be malicious and betrayed the pack.

As for the teens, that wasn't at all certain either. They thought they had an idea of what Maour would tell them. Toothless was certain they knew next to nothing about dragons except to kill on sight. The idea of dragons being intelligent and capable of communication would be a shock to their minds, not to mention the eventual details about Maour's personal life now, which were sure to slip out eventually. That was part of the first big problem. Things would need to progress gradually.

'Maour?' Toothless could feel Maour shift in the saddle. No matter how out of it he was, the tailfin always moved like it was a part of Toothless.

"Myrkursprenging, Myrkursprengja, and Eldurberg,"Maour muttered.

Toothless wasn't sure what his brother meant by that. They were three of the Furies in the nest, all between the ages of fourteen and eighteen, from two different families. 'What about them?'

Maour spoke. He seemed troubled. "I don't trust Fishlegs and the twins very much right now. But I think, in time..." He trailed off. "This can't be a coincidence. It's too perfect. Two troublesome siblings, who love to prank. They're silly but have a serious side that shows up when needed. I didn't know that last part applied to Ruff and Tuff, but now I think it does." He sighed. "And someone who loves or at least enjoys the pursuit of knowledge. Someone who is gentle, but capable of being fierce."

Maour paused for a moment and when he continued his voice was quiet. "And a teenager, alone and scared. A sarcastic streak, but intelligent and kind. A bit too sarcastic if he isn't careful, but who tries to not set himself above others. Not naturally inclined to violence, not as a first resort at least, but capable of it in the defense of those he values." He patted Toothless's neck. "It feels like fate that we ended up brothers when we're so similar. Not identical, but we share a lot of the same traits. That kind of thing is weird enough. But this? There are about twenty Furies in the pack. Somehow, three Furies closely match the personalities of three Vikings who want to know what I know. Who might be able to accept all of this. Who don't really want to go back to Berk. This can't all be a coincidence! So I have to see how far this goes. I don't know how far it'll go. But I have to see." He sighed again, exhausting all of the air in his lungs. Toothless listened without objecting, thinking that his brother needed to air his thoughts more than he needed to have a conversation.

After a moment, Maour continued. "But we have to go slowly, and very carefully. Introduce all of this gradually. First, we need to tell them what Berk should have been able to hear. Then, we'll introduce what you and I can do. We won't say anything about our home, or the Furies there. As far as Fishlegs and the twins are concerned, the only Fury inhabitants of where we live are you... and Cloey, because they know about her too. Once we're sure they can be trusted absolutely, we'll swear them to secrecy, and tell them about this place, but not locations. We can bring the Furies like them out to meet them, without saying why. If they bond, we can try to get the pack to accept them." He stopped. "Although, I'm not sure how they'd live on our island without at least partial night vision, like what I have thanks to... the link." He seemed thoughtful.

'Maybe they can link with their respective Furies if it goes that far.' Toothless considered that. 'If Cloey and I can teach that. I think we can, but neither of us has tried. And even if we could, it takes months of having the link open to develop that. We can't let them link until the pack has accepted them, because once they link they can use each other's senses, and that would let them see how to get to the island.' This was going to be really hard to manage. But if Maour wanted to try, it had to be done. 'But we'll do it. You are right, we have to try.'

Maour smiled upon hearing his brother agreed with him. Toothless was right, it would be complicated and difficult, but it needed to be attempted. When they got home, right on time, they both immediately went to their side cavern and collapsed. They needed the rest. Especially given what was coming.

The next night went by mostly as normal. Near midnight Maour got a chance to talk to Cloey and Shadow in private. Toothless had gotten Von to come with him fishing that night, though as he couldn't fly on his own, that involved some running.

Maour addressed both of his adoptive parents, who were lounging around the main cave. "You both know how my life was back on Berk, right?" That had come gradually, as various parts of his life before here had come up in conversation. Shadow had actually expressed interest in meeting Fishlegs, once, intrigued by the idea of a human who studied dragons even while afraid they would tear him limb apart.

'Yes. Is there something the matter?' Cloey seemed worried.

"No, not exactly. It's just something that happened on Mahelmetan yesterday. Fishlegs and the twins showed up. Apparently, they found a few things I left behind and set out to find me. They managed it, by sheer luck. They traced me as far as Mahelmetan. Luckily, the trail they followed won't help anyone else in the future. They came alone."

'Are they still there? What did they want?' Shadow sounded intrigued.

"I talked to them, and they want to know what really happened those months on Berk. They know there's some massive truth I learned, but they don't know exactly what it is. You remember the condition the Nótt Furies added to the deal that made me a member of the pack? I think Fishlegs and the twins might in time be candidates for that. But there are a few issues in the way." He waited for their response to that.

Cloey was first. 'I don't know how regular humans would be able to adapt to life here. They can't even talk to us.'

Shadow seemed to understand the solution to that. 'Not if they have a link with a Fury.' He stared at Maour appraisingly. 'From what you've said about them, I think Eldurberg, Myrkursprenging, and Myrkursprengja are fairly close matches. Was that the plan?' He seemed fine with the idea.

Maour was relieved. "Yup." He explained his and Toothless's plans for slowly bringing the teens into the knowledge, with each step of the way carefully handled so that the level of knowledge they held didn't exceed how trustworthy they were. Cloey and Shadow added some refinements to the idea. In short time, they came up with a detailed plan that prompted Mour to retrieve a parchment to write it all down so he wouldn't forget. They would need to present this idea to the pack before he and Toothless did anything.

That was also new. Gone were the days where he had to make every decision with only himself or Toothless to help. This involved the safety of the pack, so everyone would have a say. Not the worst change, especially given he trusted the people involved.

Later that night, Shadow requested that the pack meet for a proposal. Like before, all the Furies were in attendance. Myrkursprenging, Myrkursprengja, and Eldurberg had already been informed about how they could potentially accept new riders. At first, they dismissed the idea as nonsense. But after thinking about it for a few minutes, all three of the Furies had begun to grow excited by the idea, albeit for different reasons. It seemed the Myrkur twins liked the idea of human partners in their endeavors, while Eldurberg wanted to study more humans up close. In the end, all three of them had agreed it was a good idea. Cloey had asked them to stay silent about this until they were called on in the meeting, which they had also readily agreed to.

Maour and Toothless knew this, and as such had one less thing to worry about as they stood with Shadow on the pillar in the center of the cylindrical cave. Once all the Furies were there, Shadow stepped forward.

'My sons have something to propose. After hearing of it and discussing plans and risk management in detail, Cloey and I support them and ask for you to hear them out.' He stepped back, and Maour and Toothless nervously stepped forward. Toothless began their prepared speech.

'Last time we were all here, my brother was accepted into the pack. As a condition of that, the Nótt Furies specified that if my brother proposed other humans he was sure were worthy of the same honor, the pack would vote on it.' Toothless paused at the end of that statement.

Maour saw Nóttleiðtogi, standing with his family. The Fury in question was shaking his head with a resigned expression. Maour knew Nóttleiðtogi was certainly regretting that now more than ever. But there was some time before Nóttleiðtogi had to get anywhere near any of the teens, and Maour wasn't going to give up on helping the Fury anyway. It would work out. At least none of the teens was being potentially paired with a Nótt Fury.

Toothless continued once the discussion had died down, saying, 'That is a good idea for the future. As it happens, a few of the less hostile villagers from the same island Maour came from-'

That was as far as he got before the entire cavern erupted in a chorus of barks, roars, and snarls.

After a few moments, the noise died down. Nóttskarpur stepped forward, now standing on the edge of her family's ledge. Her voice was loud and clear. 'My family is not paranoid,' and at that she nodded to Maour. 'But that does not sit right with any of us. Explain, and do so quickly. This does not look good for Maour.' Her tone was not threatening so much as worried.

At least it was Nóttskarpur speaking, not Nóttleiðtogi. But Maour knew that if Nóttleiðtogi wasn't convinced by the truth, they could be right back where they had started, all the trust he had worked to build gone.

'Yes, explain!' One of the Myrkurs yelled. 'We're not stupid either.' The Eldurs nodded in agreement. In matters of trust, it seemed they deferred to the Nótt family.

Luckily, Toothless kept his cool. 'It is unlikely that they would be near here. Especially given they should not have been able to find us at all.' He bowed his head. 'The fault lies on the shoulders of my family. Specifically, myself, Cloey, and Maour. We each did something that helped these few humans track us.'

'What?' Nóttskarpur asked carefully.

Toothless shrugged. 'Cloey and I were seen by a few humans in a village about a week's flight from here, with Maour. Maour gave a human in that same village information about his old home in exchange for what we needed to find you. And at the island we sometimes visit, Maour produced a bit of shaped metal to be sold, one that only he knew how to make.'

A moment of silence.

'That's it?' Now Nóttskarpur sounded confused. 'Those are the only mistakes made? I don't think that's enough.'

'It shouldn't be,' Toothless agreed. 'But these three young adults went looking, and happened by luck to find all of these small clues. The trail is even now gone, as they have the metal thing, and they were the only ones smart enough to make the connection anyway.'

'So no others can follow this trail you describe?' One of the Eldurs asked with a hint of relief.

'No.' Toothless laughed. 'And none would be smart enough to anyway. Fishlegs came. Without him, the average intelligence of the island he and Maour came from is lower than that of a Terror.'

There was a general laugh, again more relief than actual humor. Maour was just glad that the pack seemed to be ready to take Toothless's word for it.

Well, almost the whole pack. 'And how do we know they did not share their conclusions with others?'

Maour answered that. "Because they told us so, and didn't want to be followed. They would have been dragged back to Berk if Fishlegs' mother knew what he was doing."

Nóttskarpur growled. 'You spoke with them.'

'To ensure that exactly what you were all worried about was impossible,' Toothless immediately countered. 'Maour made sure that no one else could track him. That was the first priority.'

'So no other humans from that island will show up looking for Maour? Or looking for us?' One of the Murkurs asked, unusually serious.

'Not by anything Maour or I did,' Toothless confirmed. 'These three are the only ones.'

"And the only ones I would even try to speak to," Maour added. "They seem willing to listen. That was what Toothless was going to say."

"How much did you tell them?" Eldurfjall asked worriedly.

'Nothing they did not already know, which is barely anything.' Toothless growled. 'As of now, they are no threat. Are you satisfied with our explanation, Nóttskarpur?'

Nóttskarpur nodded slowly. 'Bad luck that cannot be repeated. As long as that is the truth, I am satisfied. As you two gain nothing by telling us their affiliations, I must assume it is the truth.'

That was something Maour hadn't even considered, but if it helped relieve suspicion, he was fine with it.

Now they were back on track. Toothless continued in a neutral tone of voice. 'We left them with a promise to return and explain, though that is dependent on what the pack decides to do now. Maour and I think they might be worthy to be considered for induction into the pack, in time. We seek the pack's approval on how we plan to go about educating them of the truth and informing them of this offer, to ensure maximum safety, and that none of this is done in secrecy. We would be happy to consider any changes made to the proposed plan in the interest of safety.' He nodded to Maour.

Maour proceeded to describe the plan that he had formed with Toothless, Shadow, and Cloey, along with some last-minute additions from Von. That took a while, as it was detailed in what would and would not be told at each stage. Indeed, the humans in question wouldn't even be aware of the possibility of bonding with a Fury or being accepted into the pack until it was sure that they were trustworthy enough to even know of the existence of other Furies or the pack itself. Furies survived by secrecy, and this plan was the embodiment of just how complicated safely unraveling said secrecy could be. All Furies agreed that it was worth doing if it could be done safely, for reasons as diverse as the families.

The Nótt supported it for defensive reasons, though that really only meant Nóttleiðtogi and Nóttskarpur supported it. Any trustworthy increase in the size of the pack was good, in their eyes, and this was a safe and controlled way to determine trustworthiness. At least Nóttleiðtogi was not trying to stop the process out of fear.

The Eldurs supported it as a matter of increasing knowledge. They seemed ecstatic to learn of Fishlegs, a human who shared their love of knowledge, one who would be available to question at length. Maour was of the opinion that while Fishlegs would probably bond the most closely with Eldurberg, he would be well-liked by the entire Eldur clan. Maour didn't expect Fishlegs to be adopted as he had been, but he and the twins would probably be inducted as members of the families of their Fury friends as he had originally been.

The Myrkur supported the entire idea of trustworthy humans as something to liven up the pack. They also were intrigued by humans so much like themselves. They loved the fact that Ruffnut and Tuffnut apparently were going to set out on a pointless voyage of adventures, as some Myrkur Furies were known for doing the Fury equivalent, flying off randomly and not returning for years on end.

And of course, the Svartur family was fully behind Maour and Toothless.

However, that didn't mean the families didn't have changes to make. Between them all, in a very rapid debate, the Furies as a pack hammered out what exactly could be told to the humans at what points in time to preserve the safety of the pack. Most of it went smoothly. There were two major items though, that merited attention. The first was that at the point in time that the humans were considered trustworthy enough to be informed of the offer, the pack would interview them personally. That ended up having some interesting complications, but at a suggestion from Von, they were resolved.

The other item was much more complex, and the Furies debated for quite a while about how it would be handled. Maour and Toothless were the experts at this particular problem, given the subject matter. They eventually convinced the Furies that it would be safe if carefully handled. If they got to that point, Maour and Toothless would accompany the humans and their 'bonds', as the term was decided upon for referring to the other half of a linked pair, personally. They had their own reasons for pushing that point.

Finally, the pack voted unanimously to accept the final version of the proposal. Maour and Toothless were charged with the entire procedure, though they both had to report to the pack every week with any potential concerns. They were to leave the next night, to keep the promise they had made to Fishlegs and the twins.

When the pack dispersed, much later that night, Maour and Toothless headed back to the family caves, along with the rest of the Svarturs.

'That worked out fairly well,' Cloey noted. 'But are you sure these new humans can be like you?' She nudged Maour. 'That's a high standard.'

Maour laughed, a bit embarrassed. "Not that high. I really don't know. But we need to find out, which means giving them a chance.'

'You got lucky,' Shadow remarked. 'The Nóttl family would have opposed it on principle if they hadn't already said it should be allowed.'

"Nóttleiðtogi's plotting backfired," Maour agreed. "But he knew this was going to happen eventually once he figured out I was being honest." Thus Nóttleiðtogi's intense need to work on his fears. But Maour didn't mention that.

They reached their main cavern, and stopped walking, standing around, not yet ready to go back to the normal patterns of night.

'And thank you for supporting us,' Toothless added, nuzzling Cloey and then Shadow. 'You didn't have to just because we're family.'

Maour followed suit with a hug for each of the Furies in question.

'In that case…' Shadow mused. Maour and Toothless both froze.

'Just kidding,' Shadow finished with a purr. 'I trust both of you to be very, very careful.'

'It would be hard not to,' Von remarked quietly. 'With such complicated rules for every step of the process.'

"I'm just glad they let us do it at all," Maour admitted. "I was worried they would not."

'But we already said it could happen, and we made a good, careful plan.' Shadow warbled in confusion. 'Why would it not happen?'

Well, when it was put like that, Maour's fears felt silly. But with Vikings, stubbornness meant even good plans would be shot down if some of the people involved didn't want it to happen. The Nótts definitely fit that description, but they were Night Furies.

"Vikings argue for the sake of arguing, and obstruct if they don't like what the plan is supposed to achieve," Maour admitted, summing it up. "I'm not used to everyone being reasonable."

'Or intelligent,' Toothless added in an amused tone. 'You're definitely not used to not being surrounded by idiots.'

"That's a bit much," Maour mumbled, "but yes."

'Dragons generally hate uncertainty,' Shadow interrupted. 'So as long as we know what will happen and approve, we're happy.'

'Yup.' Toothless sighed. 'But I could have done without so many rules and restrictions.'

"All in the name of safety," Maour quipped. Really, he was fine with so many restrictive stipulations to any kind of contact with the other teens. It made him feel better, to know that he was being as careful as possible.

Toothless and Maour slept soundly, and the next evening set off, back to Mahemletan and the teens, making the night-long flight once more.

By now, Maour was definitely getting tired of this particular trip. Going to Mahelmetan every time he needed a forge was not convenient. He was thinking more and more seriously about building a forge at home. But it seemed that they would be coming out here for the teens for a while anyway. That project could wait a bit longer.

Maour was more than a bit surprised and amused to find a fairly elaborate if only partially completed fort in the middle of the woods. It seemed to be intended to have a roof and four walls, but only two of the walls were done. It was made entirely of dead branches and tied together with various plant life.

He and Toothless sat outside the structure and watched the sunrise as they waited for the three teens clearly visible inside to wake up. Ruffnut was the first up, and she kicked the other two awake when she saw Maour and Toothless sitting outside.

"Ow, what'd you do that for?" Fishlegs whined as he curled up around his knee. He stopped when Maour laughed. "H- uh, Maour?" He stared at the clearly visible black dragon sitting beside him. "And Toothless, I assume...?" He seemed to be controlling his fear fairly well.

That gave Maour hope. He remembered that they had learned Toothless's name from his notebook.

"Correct. Well, I promised to tell you what I could, but do you want breakfast first?" Maour gestured to a pile of currently raw fish heaped by him and Toothless. He had decided this might be a good way to get the day started.

The teens watched in amazement as Toothless pick up a fish, flash-cook it, and handed it to Maour.

"Well, who wants some?"

Maour talked as the teens ate. He told in detail about the events following him shooting down Toothless, elaborating on how he and Toothless had become friends. It was interesting to see what surprised them, such as when they learned of some of the events that had gone on under their noses, or on other parts of the island, that they never knew about. Fishlegs in particular was petrified by the progression of Astrid's madness.

In all of his talking, Maour made sure to leave out information specific to Night Furies and the identity of Toothless's mother. He simply referred to her as another Fury and didn't tell them any of her names. That would come later. Nothing he said referred to where he lived now, or the existence of any of the other Furies. That would come much later. By the time he was done talking, it was past noon.

Then, it seemed, it was time for questions, though those had also been asked throughout the story.

"You mean Snotlout was trying to kill you this whole time?" That was Tuffnut, sounding disturbed that the person he had hung around had apparently been attempting murder... and he had no idea at the time. Maour nodded.

"Since at least as far back as that night he followed me. Who knows what he might have done if our door didn't lock."

Ruffnut shivered. "And Astrid was also going to kill you, for a completely unrelated and crazy reason. Geez, why didn't you leave sooner?"

Maour had been anticipating this question. "Toothless and I wanted to free the other Fury first, and try to do something to convince the village with the Nightmare I was supposed to fight once they captured one." He grimaced. "Things didn't work out as planned." He nudged Toothless. "But we got pretty lucky in the end. No one got badly hurt or died, except for the Queen."

Fishlegs spoke up. "So all dragons are like people, except Terrible Terrors?" He seemed fine with that idea. "Even the ones we fought in the arena..." Maybe not so fine with that.

Maour was no stranger to that guilt. He put a hand on Toothless's prosthetic tailfin. "You shouldn't feel guilty. If Toothless doesn't blame me for this, then none of the arena dragons would have blamed you." He wasn't at all certain that was true, but the arena dragons weren't around to argue, and he didn't want Fishlegs or the twins to carry guilt for something they did unknowingly.

As he and Toothless left that evening, leaving the teens with enough fish to last a few days if dried, they discussed the teens' reactions. They agreed that they had handled the information well. In a few visits, Maour felt he might be able to bring up the concept of the link. He had danced around that whenever it had come up, only shortly describing what it entailed for both of them in the beginning. That was information for another day. Things were starting well.

Well, but boring.

'Do I have to stick around next time?' Toothless sighed. 'They can't hear me.'

"Next time, if I remember correctly," Maour pulled out the much-edited piece of parchment and scanned it, "we get to tell them about the link. I can translate for you then." Things were going to go very slowly. But at least they would be safe. If at any point Toothless smelled something suspicious, or any of the teens acted oddly, the progression would be shut down. By that same level of caution, once they returned, they would have to give a report to the entire pack. Checks and more checks, all designed to be entirely sure that the teens would not betray them.

"And besides, Nóttskarpur will be coming from now on," Maour reminded Toothless. "Hidden and silent, but still."

'Why her, again?' Toothless chuffed, dipping slightly to catch an air current. 'Not that I mind her.'

"She knows our language, and she's a Nótt." Those really were the only two requirements, and Nóttleiðtogi was not a good option. So Nóttskarpur would be a silent shadow, watching, unknown to the teens. A second opinion to be sure Maour and Toothless were not blinded by hope.

Maour's prediction had been correct. Things went well… and were not very exciting. There was a lot of repetition of things he had already said, mostly because the twins weren't paying attention, and a lot of dancing around things he couldn't yet say, made difficult by Fishlegs' probing questions.

But the teens seemed to be entirely fine with all of this new knowledge, and even Nóttskarpur could not say anything bad about them, aside from remarking that the twins would cause havoc. As the Myrkurs already did that, it was not a problem.

Hopefully though, this trip would be a little more interesting. Today was the day that they brought in the Furies who were interested in meeting the teens.

Of course, the teens had no idea this was going to happen. They were under the impression that there were only two Furies. This was going to be interesting. Maour and Toothless flew to their usual meeting point, flanked by Eldurberg, Myrkursprenging, and Myrkursprengja, Nóttskarpur a silent shadow in the distance, wheeled around to approach from another direction and spy silently, as normal. The rest of them landed outside the now fairly elaborate fort. It had walls, a roof, and even a functioning door. All made out of dead sticks and plant matter. The fort had grown between visits, and even sported a flat roof strong enough to hold a Night Fury. They knew that because the twins had gotten Toothless to sit on it… and after it collapsed the first time, succeeded in rebuilding it strong enough to hold him. By now, it was pretty much an organic Viking hut.

As such, the teens didn't notice the extra Furies right away, unable to see through the now complete walls, and not awake to do so anyway.

That had its own opportunities. Maour and Toothless had always come alone before, at least as far as the teens knew, and today Maour and Toothless had decided to have some fun introducing the new Furies.

Fishlegs was the first up today. He stepped out of the fort, only to notice a Fury standing a few feet away, eyes closed. "Toothless?" He yawned and looked around. "Where… where's Maour?"

Then he noticed the Fury's conspicuously fully functional tail. "You aren't Toothless. Are you the other Fury Maour knows?" The sleepiness in his voice was rapidly fading as he realized something was different.

He was utterly bemused when the dragon, eyes still closed, shook his head from side to side. "No? Then who are you?"

After talking with Maour and through translation to Toothless, Fishlegs was confident in his interactions with dragons as people, and it showed. He didn't do more than flinch when the Fury opened his eyes to display pale red irises surrounding the black pupils. "Okay, so both the Furies Maour knows have green eyes. But clearly, Maour knows three Furies."

Ruffnut walked through the doorway. She stopped, mid-yawn, and stared. Finally, she laughed. "Cool, Toothless can change his eye color?"

Fishlegs pointed wordlessly at the full set of tailfins.

Ruffnut frowned. "Not Toothless, then." She seemed content to leave it at that. She took a step forward.

The dragon took a step back.

"Okay, that won't work. You try." She shoved Fishlegs forward. He stumbled to a stop a foot away from the red-eyed Fury, who hadn't moved as he approached.

"But he seems to trust me..." Fishlegs was intrigued. He also probably suspected this had been set up by Maour. Because who else would bring a Night Fury here?

The Fury started walking deeper into the small patch of woods and turned its head to look at him. It barked at him invitingly.

"Who am I to argue?" Fishlegs followed.

Ruffnut watched them leave in annoyance. She turned and yelled into the fort. "Tuffnut, get out here!"

Tuffnut appeared a minute later, rubbing at his eyes sleepily. "What?"

Ruffnut gestured to the forest. "A new Fury just led Fishlegs off into the woods. Should we do something?" She stared at her twin, who was now gazing over her shoulder, eyes wide. "Tuffnut!"

He spoke in a very concerned voice, a rare occurrence. "Don't move." There was a Fury behind Ruffnut, and it was staring at her and licking its lips.

Of course, she didn't listen and immediately turned around to see the Fury, who happened to have yellow eyes, staring innocently.

Then she turned back to Tuffnut. "Yeah, this isn't the first one either. Fishlegs wandered off with a red-eyed one."

Tuffnut's eyes bulged. "Did that one look like it was about to eat him too?" Behind Ruffnut the yellow-eyed Night Fury was standing on its hind legs, teeth unsheathed, and even drooling slightly, its mouth open wide right about Ruffnut's head.  
Ruffnut whirled to find an innocent dragon staring at her neutrally, as the Fury had immediately dropped down and closed its mouth when she moved. "Wait…" She facepalmed. "The Thorston misdirection ploy? Number four?"

Tuffnut froze. "Exactly." He spun and pulled open the door to the fort he had just left, quickly looking inside. Then he turned back, his face disappointed. "No, not number four. The other Thorston wasn't waiting for the finishing scare."

That was when Myrkursprenging leaped from a tree to tackle Tuffnut, growling frantically… only to be very disappointed when Tuffnut's only reaction was to shout through the paw against his face, "Ha! Number five".

'Hey!' Myrkursprenging objected. 'They're not scared.'

Ruffnut nodded. "Well executed, if a bit slow." She turned to face the Fury behind her. "You shouldn't have let me see you at all."

Tuffnut wheezed. "And you," he battered ineffectively at the paw over his face, "should have pounced more ferociously. Can you do a screech?"

The Myrkur siblings exchanged an amazed glance…

'Organized pranking techniques?' Myrkursprenging asked.

'I am intrigued,' Myrkursprengja purred.

With that, both dragons promptly grabbed their respective twin, slinging them up and onto each dragon's back, and then taking off, the twins yelling in excitement the whole way.

Maour and Toothless stepped out from around the edge of the fort, where they had watched, unseen. "you think they'll be okay?" He knew what all three Furies intended. Eldurberg was just going to spend some time interacting with Fishlegs. Myrkursprenging and Myrkursprengja, on the other hand, had a litany of pranks and stunts they wanted to pull on the twins. A sort of trial by fire. Hopefully not literally. The three Furies had agreed to be back in an hour. Maour and Toothless could see the twins and the Myrkur siblings flying over the ocean now. Luckily the Myrkur siblings knew to stay relatively low, and on the unoccupied side of the island, so they would not be seen.

'Sure. Probably.' Toothless seemed to question his earlier words when the Myrkur siblings abruptly spun in unison and sent the twins plummeting into the ocean a few yards beneath them. 'Maybe.'

The twins popped up out of the water, cheering and laughing.

'They'll be fine. Much less dangerous than some of the time we spent together.'

Maour thought about that. "True." They had both come close to killing each other in the early moments.

'But I don't think they'll ever get as close as we are, either. That kind of thing needs to be built entirely on blind trust, no knowledge or stories of similar events to draw on. They trust the Furies, but a part of it is probably because they suspect we set this up. They'll be good friends, but I don't think it will go as far as siblings.' Toothless nudged Maour playfully. 'And I for one am fine being unique in that regard.'

Maour laughed. "Agreed. This is still good for them though."

'That it is. Are you ready for the hard part, when they get back?' Toothless was referring to the difficulty of keeping certain things secret, now that the teens would know they had hidden things from them. They would suspect more secrets now, and try to get Maour to reveal them. Before, they didn't know he was obscuring things. Now the precedent was set. Toothless was safe from that because Maour would have to relay any answers he gave, and the teens would prefer to just question Maour directly.

"Yeah. It might not be for too much longer now though." Besides, he had some pieces of information to distract them with. He'd use those carefully.

When Fishlegs walked back into sight, he was talking happily to Eldurberg, who was nodding occasionally. "Maour, I don't know who this is, but he's just like me!" Fishlegs took Maour's bemused expression as a cue to elaborate. "He knows things about all of the plants in the forest. He even corrected me on some stuff! No one knows as much as me usually. It's great!"

Maour wondered how that worked, when Eldurberg couldn't talk to Fishlegs. Even though Eldurberg by now understood Fishlegs when he spoke, it was still quite the communication barrier.

Maour and Toothless both laughed. Toothless questioned Eldurberg. 'What do you think of him?'

Eldurberg seemed entirely happy. 'He's just like you said. Crazy enthusiastic about all knowledge, just like we Eldurs are! And he's my age, unlike any of the rest of the Eldurs. He's kinda like my dad because they're both really enthusiastic about this stuff, except he isn't my dad, so it isn't weird being friends with him.' He nudged Fishlegs. 'He's cool. I hope this all works out.'

'So do we.' Toothless was distracted from Eldurberg when the Myrkur siblings and the twins dropped to the ground a short distance away. The twins were frazzled, hair standing on end, soaked, muddy, and exhausted.

Maour stared. "What did you two do to them? That question was directed at the Furies, by the way." He smirked as Ruffnut and Tuffnut dropped off their dragons to lay in the grass, unmoving.

'Do you really want the list? It's pretty long.' Myrkursprenging purred.

'But they passed with flying colors. They even helped test each other a few times!' Myrkursprengja pawed at Ruffnut excitedly.

Tuffnut sat up wearily, his eyes gleaming with a dangerous light. "Maour, you have Loki's gift, to bring us these." He patted Myrkursprenging condescendingly. "They're almost as good as Ruff and I-"

A bark, a brief struggle, and Tuffnut was upside-down, dangling by his feet from a nearby tree.

Ruffnut looked on passively, just as wiped out. "Hey," she added craftily, "pull some nettles under him for when he falls."

Tuffnut paled as the Furies moved to do exactly that. "I take it back!"

'Enough,' Toothless intervened, reaching up and grabbing Tuffnut. 'Didn't you already do this kind of thing?'

'Pranking is not a one-time thing,' Myrkursprenging retorted, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. 'But yeah, we did.'

Maour decided to move things along before Tuffnut tried to get revenge. "Ruffnut, Tuffnut. They say you passed their tests. They're pranksters like you, so they wanted to be sure you could keep up." Maour failed to suppress a smile as the twins immediately jumped to their feet, Tuffnut having just been dumped on the ground by Toothless..

"That's what I'm talking about! Finally, someone who can push us to our full pranking potential!" Ruffnut shoved her brother happily.

"Just in time too. We were getting rusty." Tuffnut pushed Ruffnut back.

Maour intervened with an offer. "Would you like to know the names of these Furies?" This should be interesting. None of the teens had ever heard a Fury's full name. Or even short name, for that matter.

All three teens immediately requested to know. Maour started with Fishlegs. "Fishlegs, this is Eldurberg." He turned to Ruff and Tuff. "Tuff, the one you rode is Myrkursprenging. Ruff, the one you rode is Myrkursprengja. Oh, and Toothless is also known as Svarturkappi." He figured now was a good time to tell them that.

"Uh, what?" Tuffnut had a dumbfounded look on his face.

Maour was very glad he had never told them his name. "Myrkursprenging." He laughed as Tuffnut sounded it out a few times.

"I thought they would have cool names, like Fiery Destruction: The Dragon! Something that speaks to their true nature." Tuffnut frowned as Myrkursprenging and Myrkursprengja stared at him.

What Tuffnut could not hear was what Myrkursprengja also spoke. 'My name means Dark Explosion, and my brothers' means Dark Blast. We got the names because our eggs hatched during thunderstorms. Both of ours, despite being years apart. They might prefer those names.'

Maour stared at the Myrkur siblings. "Seriously? That's actually... really convenient." He turned to Tuffnut. "Fury names all mean something. Myrkursprenging says his name means Dark Blast. Myrkursprengja is Dark Explosion. Myrkur means Dark, and it's a family name, like Thorston. They say you can use those."

Tuffnut and Ruffnut beamed in delight. "Blast! That is perfect." Tuffnut laughed. "I like your real name, now that I know what it means, but Blast is easier to say."

Blast, as Tuffnut called him, nudged his sister. 'Explosion's not much better. Good luck with that.'

Ruffnut seemed to be in deep thought. Or what passed for deep thought among the twins, usually. "I like Explosion, but it's still a bit long. How about 'Boom'? You know, the sound an explosion makes? Do you mind if I call you that?"

The newly-named Boom purred and nudged her side. 'Ha! What were you saying, Blast?'

"I take that as a yes." Ruffnut asserted.

Fishlegs was talking to Eldurberg during this. When he heard all Fury names meant something, he leaped at the opportunity. He quickly addressed Maour. "Don't tell me what Eldurberg's name means. I think he wants to show me himself."

Maour looked at Eldurberg questioningly.

'It shouldn't be hard. My name is simple, and he's smart.' Eldurberg led Fishlegs a few feet away into the forest. He held up one claw. Then he shot a tiny plasma blast at a stick. It immediately caught fire. He pointed at it. Fishlegs scratched his head.

"Blast, plasma, fire-" At fire, Eldurberg nodded. "Your name is fire?" Eldurberg shook his head at that.

A moment's pause.

"Is fire part of your name?" A nod. "Which part?" Eldurberg held up one claw. "The first part. Got it. What's the second?"

Eldurberg held up two claws and moved over to a stone that was half embedded in the ground. He tapped the two claws on it.

"Stone, rock-"

Eldurberg nodded at that one.

"So the second part is rock. Your name means 'Fire Rock'? Cool. Is fire the family part of the name?"

Eldurberg nodded.

"Do you mind if I just call you Berg?"

Berg was fine with that.

Toothless had watched the process of Fishlegs and Eldurberg deciphering Eldurberg's name in amusement. 'Were we that good at communicating without the link?' He considered it. They hadn't really had to communicate specific ideas or names. 'I guess we never really had a reason to do stuff like that.'

Maour laughed. "Yeah, we kinda jumped straight from 'mutual trust' to 'link'. I didn't even consider the possibility you had a name. And you trying to act out 'warrior' might have scared me away entirely."

'True. It would have involved teeth, claws, firepower, and a few very dead trees. You probably would have called me Leafkiller or something like that…. Wait, actually, I didn't know my name at the time, remember? So you would have had to name me anyway. And I'm glad you did.' He purred.

"Yes, because 'Toothless' is totally the name of a fearsome Night Fury."

'It's my name, so yes.' Toothless turned back to the three teens and their respective dragon friends. He addressed the dragons. 'So, you guys wanna come back next time we visit here?' The answer was an enthusiastic yes. 'Then feel free to hang around with them until sunset. That's when we've got to head back.'

Fishlegs moved towards Maour. "Uh, Maour, can I talk to you in private for a second?" Maour nodded, and they stepped to another side of the fort. Toothless and Eldurberg started a conversation back where everyone had been standing. The twins and the Myrkur siblings flew off to do who knows what.

"What's on your mind, Fishlegs?" Maour leaned against the wall of the fort but quickly thought better of it. Who knows what the twins had used to hold the sticks together.

"I think Berg and I will become friends pretty quickly. Same with the twins and their dragons. But what I want to know is, why? What's your end goal here?" He took in Maour's neutral expression. "Logically, the odds of the only three Night Furies you know besides the two we knew about being so similar to us are really low. So, I think you know more Furies than just the five we know exist." That wasn't an accusation, it was a statement of fact.

'Careful,' was a distant mental hiss Maour knew came from Nóttskarpur, watching from afar. He knew that already.

Maour shrugged. "Maybe. But why would I tell you? I've learned a few lessons about people not being what I think they are." He thought of Astrid, Snotlout, and even Stoick. "Of people who have their own goals, ones that don't keep the people I care about safe. I'm not risking that."

Fishlegs wilted. "I get that. But I'm not…"

At least Fishlegs understood. "I can't be sure yet," Maour continued quietly. "You, or the twins. In time. Not now." That was basically the pack's decision, but in phrasing it like this, he was only referring to a personal reluctance.

'Clever, but very close. Be more careful than that.' It seemed Nóttskarpur did not entirely approve.

"Is there any way we can help you be sure?" Fishlegs asked earnestly. "Any at all?"

"Answer me this," Maour challenged. "Knowing what you do now, do you plan on going back to Berk? The twins already weren't going to, but you were." It was a small way to figure out what Fishlegs really wanted.

Fishlegs shifted and stared at his feet. Eventually, he spoke. "No. I can't go back. Not knowing all of this is possible. But I don't have anywhere else to go." He considered that. "You did the same thing, didn't you? Left because of what you learned, no idea what you would do or where you would go. How did you deal with the uncertainty?" He had made his decision. Now he was trying to figure out how to deal with it.

Maour smiled. He knew that Fishlegs would have somewhere to go, in the near future. "I just pushed forward. It helped to have a friend with me. And it worked out better than I ever could have guessed." He would have alluded to some opportunity presenting itself in the future, but Nóttskarpur would call him out on that, and for good reason.

"Hopefully I get as lucky." With that, Fishlegs seemed to put the idea aside in favor of a more immediate concern. "Berg and the others will come back when you do?"

"Yes, they will." He and Fishlegs moved back to the front of the fort. He watched as Fishlegs and Berg wandered off. Toothless wandered over.

Maour smiled. "Fishlegs is pretty smart, but I think I'm keeping him in the dark. It's hard. He already knew a little too much to start with, and he can extrapolate from what he knows. If I did this with someone not from Berk, it would be much easier to keep secrets. They've seen bits and pieces of everything. Everything except the most important secret."

Toothless nodded. 'And soon, they might be ready for that. Assuming things go well with them and the Furies here. Or should I say, Berg, Blast, and Boom.' He chuckled. 'I'm going to start using those.'

Maour sat down next to his brother. "So now we just wait. Bring these guys together as often as we can manage. How do we know when they're ready?" Really ready, not just showing no signs of treachery.

'I think…' Toothless hesitated. 'Really, we don't. Something will happen, and we'll realize that they've been ready for a while.'

"Probably," Maour agreed. "We'll see." Personally, he didn't think there was much of a chance the teens would prove incapable of the level of friendship needed. Loyalty was a Viking trait. Berk had lost Fishlegs' loyalty, and never had the twins'. In both cases, a friend could acquire it easily enough, and would be far less likely to lose it.

But they would be extremely sure, and that meant going slow. The pack was right to be paranoid in principle. It would be that which Maour did not see coming that was prevented by procedures like the ones they had developed.

Still, he was pretty sure this would work out.

**_Author's Note:_ ** **To the guest reviewer AmorEsMejor, first, thank you for taking the time to review as you read through the story. Not many who are catching up do that. Wanna know something really weird? I was doing the exact same for another story when I started to get your reviews. Also, if you get an account, I often respond to reviews, especially if they're questions!**

**Oh, and to the guest reviewer who says that bugs don't live this far North in reference to chapter 13… we don't know where Toothless was at the time of that story. The Queen sends raids far and wide (else Berk would be overwhelmed), and her control has no limit in distance.**


	36. Chapter 36

That first visit involving the other Furies had gone well, and Eldurberg, Myrkursprenging, and Myrkursprengja had been eager to return. Luckily for them, they were going to be returning quite often.

The next trip, only a few days later, was made in high spirits, at least when it came to the Myrkurs and Eldurberg.

'Three times!' Myrkursprengja almost roared, extremely enthusiastic. 'We can go high enough for that.'

'Maybe four…' Myrkursprenging mused.

'What are they talking about?' Toothless asked Maour. 'I stopped listening to them an hour ago.'

"Putting the twins in mortal danger," Maour nonchalantly explained. "Something about dropping them and letting them fall for a while, and then grabbing them right before they hit the water."

'Can they do that safely?' Toothless asked. 'And why aren't you more worried?'

"Simple." Maour raised his voice. "No real flying with the twins without saddles. They need to be able to hold on." He spoke as if it was final.

'But-' Toothless objected, probably about how the twins didn't need saddles to be caught.

'Maour is correct,' Nóttskarpur interjected, her voice stern. 'And no flying out of sight of the forest, or _in_ sight of the island.'

'But we did last time!' Myrkursprenging objected incredulously.

'And it was dangerous then.' Nóttskarpur growled. 'Stick to the ground today. All three of you.' She cast a glance at Eldurberg.

'Fine by me,' Eldurberg agreed hastily. He seemed lost in his own thoughts.

'Fine, fine,' Myrkursprenging muttered, quailing under Nóttskarpur's glare. 'That limits things a bit.'

'You knew that was going to happen,' Toothless said, flicking Maour's hands with his ears.

Maour pulled his hands back out of range. "Yup. Nóttskarpur wasn't too happy with the flying last time."

A while later, they reached Mahelmetan, dropping in low, using the forest as cover, though it was early enough in the morning that there probably weren't many Vikings up in the village to see them, cover or not. Nóttskarpur disappeared into the shadows as soon as she reached the trees.

'She's really good,' Toothless remarked as they made their way to the makeshift fort that housed the teens. 'Think she can teach me?'

Maour shrugged. "Can't hurt to ask later."

'It could, actually,' Eldurberg disagreed nervously. 'She gave Myrkurheili a scar for asking a question.'

Myrkursprengja growled. 'His question was over the line, even for a Myrkur, Eldurberg. He's my uncle, and I still think he deserved worse than that.'

'Come on, this again?' Myrkursprenging laughed. 'All she had to say was no, and he would have left her alone.'

'It's against pack law to try and break apart mated pairs,' Myrkursprengja retorted. 'He's _lucky_ Nóttskarpur handled him herself.'

That sounded right to Maour, given who Nóttskarpur was currently with. "But did Nóttleiðtogi find out?"

'Of course, she told him after she gave Heili a new scar,' Myrkursprengja replied happily. 'I don't know what Nóttleiðtogi said to our dear uncle, but he didn't so much as look at Nóttskarpur for a year after that.'

With that, they reached the fort. Maour dismounted and knocked on the door, feeling somewhat absurd. The walls weren't even all finished, but he knocked on the door anyway.

A brief scuffle, and then Tuffnut's helmet crashed through the woven twigs and cordage of the door, his head following.

"Yes!" He closed his eyes and pulled his head out, leaving a helmet-shaped hole behind.. "Something to do!"

The Myrkur siblings were laughing, and Maour had taken a hasty step back in shock. "That was odd."

'When you can rebuild the door, who cares if you break it?' Myrkursprenging countered.

'Of course you would say that, Blast,' Toothless retorted.

'Feel free to use that. I like it,' Blast agreed. 'It suits me.'

'Same,' Myrkursprengja agreed. 'Boom.'

'I will,' Toothless said seriously. 'Blast and Boom, if you really want those names.'

Interesting. Well, they were friends. "So will I." Maour was fine with that.

The door of the fort swung open, and the twins burst out, followed by Fishlegs.

"Time for stunts-" Ruffnut sung.

"-thrills!" Tuffnut continued, racing for Blast.

"And death-defying feats of skill!" Ruffnut concluded, reaching Boom.

A beat of silence, as both twins climbed on, holding on precariously.

'Please?' Blast asked sadly, speaking as if to no one. 'We'll be safe.'

'No.' Nóttskarpur's voice came from the shadows of the forest. 'No flying.'

'I almost feel sorry for you guys,' Toothless admitted.

Ruffnut looked down. "Hey, what gives?"

"Yeah, we've been waiting for days." Tuffnut crossed his arms. "We made a theme song, we were so bored!"

Maour considered intervening.

"Maybe they need a push?" Tuffnut asked, before thumping his boot on Blast's side. It was a petulant move, not a cruel one, but that didn't sit well with anyone.

Blast turned his head to stare at Tuffnut, eyes narrowed. A soft growl built, slowly beginning to shake Tuffnut, who was starting to realize that something was wrong.

Then Boom, who still had Ruffnut on her back, walked over and pulled Tuffnut off of Blast, none too gently.

As she did, she spoke. 'Nóttskarpur, I think an exception needs to be made, just to ensure this sinks in.'

'A short exception,' Nóttskarpur agreed, her voice dark. 'This will not be nearly so gentle next time.'

Now Maour knew what was going on, and he approved. So as to not distract, he and Toothless stayed out of it. Berg and Fishlegs were also watching.

Tuffnut sat up from where he had been dumped. "Hey, what gives?"  
Blast turned and very deliberately kicked Tuffnut, hard, in the stomach. The wheeze of displaced air was audible, as was Ruffnut's inhale of shock.

Then Boom twisted her neck to stare at Ruffnut, her eyes challenging.

Ruffnut slowly raised her hands. "I want no part in that."

Boom nodded slowly, her expression softening. She leaped into the air, circled just above the trees for a few seconds, and then set back down, Ruffnut clinging to her back. Making a point.

Tuffnut wheezed in exasperation, not quite able to speak yet.

Then Boom nodded to Ruffnut, and then the ground. Ruffnut quickly scrambled off and went to help Tuffnut up.

Tuffnut pushed her away, his hands on his knees as he stood, bent almost double. "Not… fun."

'Maour, can you explain?' Blast asked sadly. 'I want to be sure they get it.'

Maour nodded. "But do you get why it happened?" He asked Tuffnut promptingly.

Tuffnut groaned, having mostly recovered. "Not really."

"Bro, you kicked him." Ruffnut shook her head. "So he kicked you back."

At least she got that much. "They're not animals, and you can't make them do something they won't or can't do."

"But they flew last time," Tuffnut objected. "And Ruffnut was just in the air."

"And if they don't want to now, maybe there's a reason," Maour answered. "Treat them with respect."

"Message received," Tuffnut muttered. "Sorry, Blast."

Blast nodded. 'We make stupid mistakes all the time. You're no different.'

Maour translated that for Blast.

"He didn't say stupid," Ruffnut accused Maour. "You added that."

Boom shook her head.

"Or maybe he did," Ruffnut amended. "So what do we do all day?" She seemed eager to put the small confrontation behind them.

"There was a pit in the forest that way," Tuffnut mused, pointing off to the South.

"Say no more!" Ruffnut, Tuffnut, and the Myrkurs wandered off in a generally Southern direction.

Fishlegs shuffled his feet nervously and looked at Berg. "I'm not treating you like an animal… right? I'd rather know before you feel the need to teach me a lesson."

Berg grinned and shook his head.

"Oh, good." With that, Fishlegs and Berg followed the twins' general direction. "Let's make sure the twins don't do anything too stupid."

'Oh great, another day of waiting around,' Toothless complained, watching them go. 'But watching them would be pretty boring too.'

"Yeah, we need to figure out ways to pass the time here," Maour agreed. "Luckily, I brought my scythe today. Want to help me get back into shape?"

Toothless grinned evilly. 'Sure. But as your scythe is on _my_ saddle, we'll start with some running!' He darted off into the underbrush.

That second trip ended simply, the dragons and teens returning to the fort at sunset and saying goodbye. The twins were back to normal by then, and the Myrkurs reported no issues, but the incident worried Maour. He brought it up with Cloey and Shadow the night afterward, starting by telling them exactly what had happened. Nóttskarpur was very likely reporting to the pack as they spoke, as it was her turn to do so. She had reassured Maour that this one incident was not a big deal, as long as it did not resurface, but that didn't make him feel much better.

Cloey purred soothingly. 'I wouldn't worry. They got the message across, and you did not have to interfere again. The Myrkurs are just as bad, sometimes.'

'Reinforce the lesson,' Shadow added, less reassuringly but more helpfully. 'Have them work together in a way that puts the Myrkurs in charge for a while, or demonstrate that Toothless is just as independent as you are.'

'Or both,' Toothless added happily. 'I can think of plenty of ways to do that second one.'

Maour groaned dramatically. "This is going to be embarrassing, I can already tell." Ways for Toothless to clearly demonstrate that he was his own person, and didn't by extension have to listen to Maour? That was probably going to involve Toothless doing something Maour would really not like, so as to make it authentic.

'I won't embarrass you,' Toothless amended quietly. 'Not in front of them. You have suffered more than enough of that in the past. But I can still see a few ways to make it work.'

Maour patted his brother's forehead. "I shouldn't have thought you would."

'In front of them,' Toothless clarified further. 'With family, all bets are off.' He pawed at Maour playfully.

"As they should be," Maour grinned. "But first, let's talk more about your ideas."

The third trip, in less than two weeks. Yup, this was getting annoying. This time around Maour at least had another reason for going to Mahelmetan besides the teens. He needed to restock on bread and vegetables, hence the bags hanging from Toothless's saddle, as well as the fairly nice pelt.

Of course, that was pointed out as soon as they took off. 'What are those for?' Nóttskarpur asked curiously.

"Food," Maour explained. "I take these so I don't have to make trips very often." He had actually started a very small garden of sorts in the forest on the island, but that would take time to supply anything edible. It was all necessary, though.

'Fish isn't enough?' Nóttskarpur asked, confused. Eldurberg was listening closely, his face betraying his fascination with any new information. The Myrkurs, on the other hand, were goofing off a ways away from the group, as they all flew towards Mahelmetan.

"Apparently not." He had figured that out a few weeks into the search for the pack with Cloey and Toothless when he had begun feeling sick and fainting for no reason. Other food was needed to remain healthy, it seemed. He didn't like relying on Mahelmetan for that too, but he was taking steps to fix that, and for the time being it was necessary.

'What do these other foods taste like?' Nóttskarpur asked, directing her question at Toothless.

Toothless laughed. 'Some are strange and tasteless, and others disgusting, at least to me. But if Maour needs them, then we get them.'

"Legitimately," Maour agreed, his hand on the pelt rolled up in front of him. "And fresh meat besides fish in the process." They had gone hunting a few days ago on islands even farther out. It had been a week or so since the last trip to Mahelmetan, so they had had time to do so, and it was an interesting break from fishing to pay for things.

'Now _that_ is good,' Toothless agreed, licking his lips. 'Strange, but a nice change every once in a while.'

Maour grinned at the hunger in his brother's voice. "Family cook is my job. That at least never changes." Stoick could burn water.

'I ate it raw,' Toothless countered. 'What did you change?'

"You didn't watch me very closely, did you?' Maour made his voice sly, now messing with Toothless. "I might have added something before you got to your cut."

Toothless faltered in his flight. 'What?'

"That would be telling," Maour countered. "Why would I-"

'I'll drop you in the ocean once we get to Mahelmetan and let you dry yourself off.'

Maour shivered. "Okay, fine. I didn't add anything. Maybe I can next time."

'No way,' Toothless shivered.

"We'll discuss this later," Maour replied. There was probably something Toothless would like if they looked long enough. But that was secondary, for now. A project for later, when they had nothing better to do.

When they arrived, hours later, Maour and Toothless split off, and Maour went into the village to trade and get the various foods he needed, Toothless supplying commentary. It was a routine, and one Toothless apparently found more interesting than hanging around the teens.

"You know, I'm sure there are better things you could do with this time," Maour remarked under his breath, waiting for a merchant to examine the pelt he had brought in. "This isn't fun."

'The others are busy with the teens,' Toothless countered. 'And while I don't dislike them, I don't really feel like hanging around them.'

"You can have friends, Toothless." Maour remarked seriously. "It's not like it's them or me."

'I know that.' Toothless huffed. 'But that doesn't have anything to do with this. I just don't feel like I fit in with any of the people here. Fishlegs and Berg care too much about every little thing, and the twins are just as inane as the Myrkur siblings. Do you blame me?'

"Is there anyone on the island you _do_ like hanging around that isn't a Svartur?" Now Maour was genuinely curious, and the merchant was taking his time, so he had a chance to ask.

'I like pretty much everyone.'

"That's not what I was asking." Maour pressed it. "Seriously? You don't go find someone specific whenever you're alone with time to burn?" It happened, specifically when Maour was working with Nóttleiðtogi. Maour and Toothless weren't quite joined at the hip. At the tailfin, maybe.

'It depends. If I'm restless, I find a Myrkur. If I'm bored, I find an Eldur, and realize that I wasn't that bored to start with after an hour of them talking.'

Maour chuckled. "Fair enough."

'Honestly…' Toothless sounded uncertain. 'I don't feel like I fit in with the others my age. But the adults, the real adults… Nóttskarpur seems interesting. Myrkurheili has stories of adventures all over the world, though I don't agree with how he handled certain things. He's a Myrkur, for sure.'

That was interesting. "So you fit in with the older, more experienced dragons?" Toothless's childhood might be to blame for that. "What about Nótteinfari?" She was less immature, and though she didn't have a lot of experience with life, her family did.

'She's easy to be around,' Toothless admitted freely. 'Like another sister. Different than Von, but somehow similar.'

Maour crossed that name off of the mental list he was keeping, one of the few things he didn't ever mention to Toothless. Myrkursprengja was already off the list, and it didn't look like Toothless had spared Eldurhjarta a second glance. Time would tell.

"I guess that makes sense," Maour admitted. "You're a little more worldly, a little less silly. As long as you have friends besides close family, that isn't a bad thing."

'And you,' Toothless retorted. 'Fishlegs and the others will be good for you, if they can adapt well enough.'

"That's in the future," Maour cautioned. "But maybe." He really didn't care that much, though it would be nice. He was used to being pretty much totally alone, and what he had now was so much better as to render further improvement unnecessary by comparison. Nice, but not vital.

The merchant finally finished inspecting the pelt, and paid Maour more than enough for it, possibly as an apology for the long wait. Getting what he needed and carrying it back to the forest was a simple task.

If a suspicious one. He always worried that someone would follow him into the forest, wondering what he was doing. Luckily, Vikings weren't a curious people, as a rule, so it hadn't happened yet.

As he walked into the outer fringes something occurred to him. "Toothless, we're being careless."

'How so?'

"No one seems to bother with this forest, but we're not making sure it's empty. We should be watching the village, to be sure some random villager doesn't walk in on something they shouldn't see."

'A very good point,' Toothless agreed, his voice worried. 'But today we need to be around the others. Our plan, remember?'

Maour nodded, though Toothless couldn't see him. "Today. After today, we should probably be sentries. Nóttskarpur can watch the others, and we can watch the VIkings."

'After today.' Toothless appeared from behind two gnarled trees, and the two met halfway, Maour slinging the bags onto Toothless's saddle. Best to be ready for a quick departure, just in case.

Then they waited, passing the time idly. The teens were, as per usual, somewhere in the forest, and the little demonstration Maour and Toothless had planned could wait until they all returned to the fort… which was looking more and more elaborate every time Maour saw it.

Eventually, the sun began to set. It was almost time for the teens and their respective dragons to come back. Nóttskarpur too, though for all Maour knew she was already around.

"Now, I think," Maour said, standing and taking his scythe from the holster on his back.

'Now,' Toothless agreed, sitting down off to Maour's side. 'The normal?'

"Just with you correcting me more obviously than normal." Maour closed his eyes and began the coordination exercise he always used, as a warm-up. It was so easy as to not require thought by now, though he had only recently began to practice again.

'Left,' Toothless barked abruptly.

A slash to the side, a pivot, and he was facing what had been his left, the aimless spinning now deliberate and pointed, always moving forward. It wasn't perfect, and he fumbled quite a bit, but it was a flowing pattern of attack.

'Stop!' Toothless barked, and Maour froze. 'You dropped your guard for quite a while just now.'

"Where?" Maour kept his eyes closed, because this was also teaching something else. He wanted to be able to act in his own body while seeing through Toothless's eyes. To that end, he accessed his brother's sight, now seeing himself from the outside.

'Here,' Toothless specified, a paw poking Maour in the side. 'Keep this spot covered.'

Maour nodded, mentally adjusted his pattern of attack, and continued. He closed out Toothless's sight for that, because he was only just recently becoming comfortable moving with no sight, let alone a different perspective.

And so they went, Toothless directing Maour's efforts, and occasionally stopping him to point a weakness out. Toothless was working from years of observing Vikings fighting, so his advice was actually pretty accurate.

At one point, Toothless huffed. 'We have an audience. Keep going.'

That was the plan, so Maour wasn't surprised when Toothless began intervening more obviously and more often, apparently ignoring the others. This was a way to reinforce the perspective of dragons as people for the twins, though they professed to have already learned that lesson. They would see a dragon clearly correcting and leading a complex activity, his orders followed by a human.

But it was also just what he and Toothless did on a daily basis anyway, now that he had his weapon back. Not usually in such a public setting, but it wasn't unheard of for someone on the island to happen across them, so all of the Furies knew about it. Eldurberg and the Myrkurs, consequently, were content to watch and wait.

By the time Toothless ended it, Maour was drenched in sweat, despite the very strong chill in the air. He had to be always moving with this style of combat, and it really took some stamina to keep up.

He opened his eyes to see three very impressed faces, and three bored Furies.

'Can we go now?' Eldurberg asked after a moment. 'I told my mom I'd be home before sunrise.'

Maour grinned. "Sure. My form was sloppy today, so Toothless took longer than normal to correct me." Not really true, but it subtly explained to the twins and Fishlegs what had been going on, if they hadn't figured it out yet.

Fishlegs looked very, very curious, so Maour wasn't surprised when he spoke up. "He teaches you?"  
"He's seen plenty of Vikings fighting, and he is a Night Fury," Maour deadpanned. "He's pretty qualified. See you guys next time!" With that, he hopped onto Toothless and the Furies made their exit.

Toothless chortled. 'I think you just made him more curious with that, and now he'll have to wait a week for answers.'

'I'd say that worked,' Nóttskarpur added approvingly. 'And you are beginning to look dangerous yourself, Maour.' That had a bit of an edge to it.

"I have a long way to go to even match a Night Fury in self-defense," Maour admitted, hoping to defuse Nóttskarpur's worries. "And my weapon is mostly for fighting Vikings anyway. If I wanted to really fight dragons, I'd learn to use a bow." For creatures with built-in range, that seemed the only logical choice… which explained why so few Vikings ever went for it.

'As well that you do not,' Nóttskarpur agreed. 'Anyone on our island could still tear you apart.'

'That's kinda awkward,' Blast added. 'Given your son tried to do just that.'

Nóttskarpur winced. 'True. My apologies.' She nodded to Maour. 'It seems you had reason to want to defend yourself even on our island.'

"Eh, best to be prepared." Maour waved a hand as if to dismiss the subject. "Speaking of which, Toothless and I realized that we're being careless." Now seemed to be a good time to bring what he had realized earlier to Nóttskarpur's attention. They needed to be making sure no villager approached unnoticed.

'Do tell…' Nóttskarpur growled.

The fourth trip, in as many weeks.

'How many of these do you think this will take?' Toothless shook his head, circling in on the forest. 'This is getting really repetitive.'

"Well, it's going to be more repetitive after today, so hopefully not too many," Maour agreed. "You know what we're doing today."

'And so do we!' Boom declared happily. 'Ruffnut will have fun with this.'

Maour smiled at that. He hadn't actually been sure if the Myrkur siblings would each bond with one twin in particular, or with both as a unit, but it seemed that they were opting for the one-on-one approach without even thinking about it.

"Well, let me tell them about it and you can get started," Maour agreed. He looked down to see the teens already assembled outside the fort, which now sported a reinforced roof, by the looks of things.

"What's with the roof?" Ended up being his first question.

"Berg sat on it and broke it last time," Tuffnut supplied helpfully. "Now it's Night-Fury-proof!"

Berg jumped onto the fort and shifted, sitting on the center of the roof. 'Yup.'

"Cool." Maour crossed his arms. "Today we've got something planned."

"Flying?" Tuffnut asked eagerly.

Maour winced. "Not today." That restriction still hadn't been lifted, and for good reason. Too much of a chance something would be seen. "Today, we have a game of sorts planned."

"We're listening…" Tuffnut motioned for Maour to go on.

"Three teams," Maour listed. "Fishlegs and Berg, Ruffnut and Boom, Tuffnut and Blast. No flying. No leaving the forest. No injuries beyond bruises, and no fire."

"Way to make it no fun," Ruffnut muttered rebelliously.

"You all want this," Maour continued, and pulled a small roll of cloth from one of Toothless's saddlebags. "And yes, it's flammable." That had been intentional, to prevent cheating.

"So we just take it?" Tuffnut inched forward, his hand slowly moving towards the yellow cloth.

"Nope." Maour shook his head. "Not until Toothless and I leave the area. Whichever team has it at sunset wins."

"Any other rules?" Fishlegs looked nervous.

'Now for the fun part,' Toothless chuckled.

"The dragon on each team is in charge, and only a human can take the cloth from a dragon, and vice-versa." Maour waited for the reaction to that.

Fishlegs smiled slyly, clearly happy that it would be Berg who was the target of the Ruffnut and Tuffnut. The twins, on the other hand, seemed upset… until they thought about it.

"We're taking orders from someone we can't even hear talk?" Ruffnut asked, to clarify.

"Yup. How well your dragon partner can give the orders depends on how good you are at understanding charades." Maour smiled. "To make it fair for the non-pranksters of the group."

Now Fishlegs looked positively smug. "Good luck with that, you guys." He nodded to Berg. "We spend whole days communicating."

"Great minds think alike, Fishy," Tuffnut countered. "We'll see who's better at that."

"Are we playing against you two?" Fishlegs asked Maour. "That seems a little unfair."

"No, actually. We need to watch the edges of the forest to make sure no one stumbles across any of this." Maour shrugged. "Good luck, and the game doesn't end until sunset, when we leave."

'Prepare to lose,' Blast declared, staring intently at the cloth in Maour's hands.

'Says second place to first,' Boom retorted.

Berg purred and said nothing, clearly letting Blast and Boom fight it out.

Maour was beginning to feel particularly unsafe, holding the target all three Furies were staring at so intently, so he dropped it. "As soon as Toothless is out of sight, the game is on."

Nobody moved.

"No hurting each other," Maour clarified, feeling worried about what he might have started.

'Yeah, yeah, get going,' Blast mumbled.

'We should probably run,' Toothless joked. With that, Maour dropped the cloth and walked quickly away, following Toothless. The sounds of conflict and laughter followed him.

'This I kind of want to see,' Toothless commented.

"Yeah, too bad there's not really any way to watch." Even if they didn't have something else that needed to be done, they would only be able to follow one group at a time in the forest, and would possibly mess up whatever convoluted plots involved stealth. "We'll be getting a play-by-play though, I'm sure."

'True.' Toothless huffed. 'Off to watch the borders.'

The forest was not an interesting place for the villagers of Mahelmetan, it seemed. No one so much as looked in its direction over the course of that day. But at least now they wouldn't be caught by surprise.

It was boring, however. So both Maour and Toothless were looking forward to sunset, and were back at the fort well beforehand, ready and waiting.

'Any bets?' Toothless asked conversationally, sprawled out on top of the fort, taking advantage of the dragon-proof roof. 'I'll say Ruffnut and Boom.'

"Fishlegs and Berg," Maour countered. "If the others didn't completely overwhelm in the first five minutes."

'I say Blast and Tuffnut,' a hidden voice called out. 'They're closest, and the cloth was changing paws pretty quickly.'

"No fair, you were watching."  
'Not well,' came the annoyed reply. 'It was impossible to keep more than one team in sight for more than ten minutes. Today has been extremely frustrating.'

Well that made Maour feel much better about not following along. "What direction?"

'East,' was the reply.

A moment later, a black shadow moved out from behind a tree a short distance away and darted for Maour, only to be tackled by another black mass, a yellow cloth stained with mud and dirt fluttering to the ground.

Then a third Fury plowed through both of the tussling dragons and their riders, who Maour was just now seeing were also fighting off to the side, grabbed the cloth, and skidded to a stop right in front of him.

The cloth really was stained. What had they done to get it that bad? Maour wasn't sure he wanted to know. The Fury had red eyes, though Fishlegs wasn't anywhere nearby.

"Is Fishlegs still alive?" Maour asked nervously.

'Of course. He was distracting them over that way,' Berg nodded to the side.

'But that's the opposite direction,' Toothless objected. 'How did you guys get over there?' He pointed to the ongoing dispute.

Berg shook his head, still panting. 'I really don't know. It's all a bit of a blur.'

'Should I break this up?' Toothless indicated the struggle.

Berg shook his head. 'Nah, let them fight it out. Things got pretty heated today.'

'Any lifelong bonds shattered?' Toothless sounded morbidly curious.

'Maybe a few made.' Berg laughed. 'You should have heard the insults both pairs of siblings threw at each other. A common enemy, I think.'

"That wasn't _really_ the intention…" But if it happened to work out that way, all for the better.

Fishlegs stumbled out of the forest, breathing heavily. "Did it work?"

Berg nodded, gesturing to the cloth at Maour's feet.

"Yes!" With that, Fishlegs collapsed.

"What..?" Maour began.

"You don't want to know," Fishlegs gasped. "If that's what war is like, I think I'm a pacifist."

Later that night, on the flight home, after breaking up the fights, the Myrkurs were too wiped out to say much.

'But did it work?' Toothless asked, frustrated with the lack of information. 'Did they treat you as equals?'

'Is that the only reason you want to know?' Blast asked wearily. 'Yes, it was great. Not enough to win though!'

'I'm going to spend the entire week thinking up tactics for next time,' Boom growled, flapping more energetically, as if motivated by that.

'So am I!' Blast retorted.

"Next time…" Maour shrugged. "Feel free, but I think you might have trouble getting Fishlegs to participate."

'No, no, just between us four. We need to settle this.' Boom shook her head.

'Fine by me.' Berg sounded immensely relieved.

The games, or more accurately grudge matches among the twins and the Myrkurs, continued for the next few weeks. Maour and Toothless went from wanting to participate to being glad that they had the legitimate excuse of watching for Vikings. The matches were grueling, and at one point Nóttskarpur actually had to clandestinely intervene on the grounds that the Myrkurs would be literally too tired to fly home that night.

But time moved on, and with their new responsibility of guarding the others, Maour and Toothless remained mostly unaware of the events that occurred, hearing about them second-hand.

During that time, no one ever even came to the forest. But eventually, their diligence was rewarded.

Generally, the villagers of Mahelmetan had no reason to go to their scrawny and worthless forest. But today, some lucky villager had decided he wanted to avoid paying for wood.

At least, that was what Maour assumed his motivation for approaching the woods with an ax was.

'So now what?' Toothless was crouched beside him, watching the oncoming villager. He didn't sound too worried. Nóttskarpur was not with them today, watching the twins and Fishlegs. The teens still had no idea she was around.

"Now… we get the twins and Fishlegs on their dragons and spend a few hours away from here." Even as he said it, Maour saw several flaws in that plan. There were no good places to set down close by yet out of sight, and they couldn't take the teens to their home. The other Furies couldn't afford to spend several hours in the air either, needing as much energy as possible for the long return flight, the Myrkurs already pushing it. Aside from that, there would be no good way to know when it was safe to return without observing the villager… which would mean someone needed to stay behind. That, in turn, brought its own problems. Maour was stealthy, and so was Toothless, but there weren't many easy hiding places in this particular forest. Nóttskarpur was very good, to remain unseen for so long. If either of them were caught spying, it would endanger a life or Maour's reputation in the village. Nóttskarpur, on the other hand, lacked the communication over any distance Maour and Toothless shared, meaning her remaining to spy would be even more dangerous, as they wouldn't even know if she had been spotted.

A complicated situation. They would have to get the others out of here despite the risks and uncertainties. Toothless departed, headed towards where the others usually hung around. Maour remained, watching from the shadows.

A few minutes passed. The villager was right at the edge of the forest now, moving into the fringes.

'Maour, I can't find them.' A frustrated tone. 'Even Fishlegs and Berg are gone.'

Maour, too close to risk speaking and possibly being heard, couldn't resist sighing. Of course, it wouldn't be even that easy. "Keep looking," he whispered. Then he began to move, slowly trailing the villager.

Seriously, what did this guy want? They had passed a dozen good trees, even in this pitiful forest. But he kept going, deeper and deeper in. Not on a path that would take him to the fort, but still. If Toothless couldn't find the others, that meant they were somewhere here in this same forest, unaware of the possible danger of discovery.

A thump, a suspiciously heavy one. Both Maour and the villager froze. Maour really hoped that it wasn't-

Nope. Another, identical thump, and a black mass moving through the trees. Indistinguishable for anyone without enhanced vision at the moment, but getting closer.

The villager tensed, hefting his ax apprehensively. From what Maour had picked up, dragons rarely visited Mahelmetan, for obvious reasons. There was nothing here a dragon would want, not when there was no Queen driving them. So this man probably didn't have much personal experience with them. But the stories were the same, so he must suspect what was around.

And, in true Viking fashion, he didn't do the smart thing and run away. Instead, he moved forward, a grim smile crossing his face.

Great, it seemed they had gotten the idiot who preferred glory over life. With Vikings that wasn't surprising, but it was annoying. Scaring this guy away would be difficult-

Another thump, this one resounding with a hollow crack. The Viking crumpled to the ground, a rapidly darkening bruise forming on his forehead.

Fishlegs stepped out from the shadows in another direction. Berg followed cautiously.

Maour blinked. Really? Neither of them knew he was there. He decided to watch and see what they would do.

"Nice shot, Fishy!" Ruffnut crowed, coming from the direction of the black mass. Of course, those two thumps had been Blast and Boom, and Tuffnut was with her. They both had sticks in their hair, but that was almost not worth wondering about.

Fishlegs shrugged. "I had a good angle. Besides, he saw you guys way too early."

"Is it my fault I wanted to scare him like Maour did?" Tuffnut shrugged. "So we got a little overexcited. It all worked out."

Ruffnut picked up the rock Fishlegs had thrown. "This guy wasn't a real Viking."

"Why do you say that?" Fishlegs seemed to be dreading the answer.

"This is sandstone," Ruffnut continued. "Vikings break rocks with their skulls, but it's not even cracked." She proceeded to smash the rock on her brother's forehead. "See? Thick skulls!"

Tuffnut stumbled unsteadily, but was caught by Blast. "Yup."

'Maour, I think I see them,' Toothless commented. 'Please tell me the Viking hasn't noticed anything.'

Maour stepped out into the open. "That's debatable."

"Oh, hey." Ruffnut waved. "This guy isn't supposed to be here." She pointed at the unconscious Viking.

"Actually, we're not supposed to be here," Maour corrected. "Any ideas on how we play this one?" He was at a loss. They couldn't just kill the guy, and he was going to wake up sooner or later.

"Sure," Tuffnut answered, stumbling away from Blast to stand on his own feet, however unsteadily. "Just break off a big branch and leave it by his head. He'll assume it fell on him."

"But the bruise is on his forehead," Fishlegs objected.

"So? Vikings aren't the smartest," Ruffnut countered. "Give him an easy explanation and he'll take it."

'Are we doing that?' Toothless asked, walking up to the group.

"I guess so." Maour nodded. "Okay."

Boom jumped onto a tree to get a branch, putting her weight on one until it snapped. Then Ruffnut carefully arranged the Viking, setting the branch with the broken end facing him, right next to his head.

"It's all in the setup," she explained as she worked.

Maour was not about to question that.

The rest of that visit went fine, though they cut it short so as to not tempt fate. There was still a Viking in the woods, after all. Soon, five Furies and one human were flying away from Mahelmetan.

Nóttskarpur pulled up beside Toothless and Maour. 'Today was interesting.'

'How so?' Toothless sounded bored. 'Just a Viking someone knocked out before I even got there.'

'I believe it is time,' Nóttskarpur continued, 'as we cannot test them more effectively than that.'

"How was that a test?" Maour could think of a few better ways to test the teens… though most of them were pretty extreme. Besides, he felt that the teens were ready anyway.

'I was watching them. It was Fishlegs who first noticed among the humans, with Eldurberg's assistance.' At that Eldurberg, who was listening, nodded in agreement. 'And the first reaction of the humans was worry, from the smell. That is a very good indicator of loyalty. Worry for one's friend above oneself is very good.'

'That doesn't seem like a very big thing to base this decision off of,' Toothless objected.

'And that is why I am doing so.' Nóttskarpur chuffed, explaining in a calm tone. 'We cannot base this off acts of heroism or loyalty, because those can be faked. No one took Maour's story alone as proof of what he was for that reason, my family only the most… vehement in not doing so. All of that can be faked. A small thing, a true emotion in a moment where no one would know to fake something that they are not aware can be sensed… it is a little detail even a master manipulator would miss. And if Fishlegs, the smartest of the three, is not faking, the odds that the twins can or would be are nonexistent. This is all the proof I need.'

"So you think it's time we brought them to the island?" Maour didn't disagree, but for Nóttskarpur to say so… "And you can convince Nóttleiðtogi?"

'He agrees it is my call to make,' she purred. 'So yes. Next visit, we bring them back for the pack to question.'


	37. Chapter 37

**Author's Note: Next chapter is the last, save for the epilogue and some deleted scenes. Then we go on to _Living Anonymously_** **to continue the story. Think of this more as the lead up to an interlude, really.**

The next night, rested and prepared, Maour had only two things that needed to be done. The first was easy, as he already had what he needed in one of the side-caverns, laid out over a ledge.

Toothless followed him in to check on the saddles. 'All ours?'

"This one and this one I made as backups, and this one was a test," Maour confirmed, running his hands over the three saddles. "It was easy to add a tether, and it should not be difficult for anyone to hook on."

'Convenient,' Toothless remarked.

"Well, that's what happens. If we needed to outfit ten of you with tailfins, I could probably do it," Maour quipped, pointing to a pile of spare parts stacked in a corner. "Always good to be prepared."

'True.' Toothless looked out at the main cavern. 'When does the pack meet for Nóttskarpur to report? I wasn't listening when she told us.'

"You were basically asleep on your feet- well, paws, so I'm not surprised. Midnight, more or less, so we have some time to burn." He was just glad Nóttskarpur was going to be doing the convincing this time around. It should be easier for her, given her reputation as being cynical and clever.

'Is there time for a run?' Von asked, walking into view.

"Sure." Maour liked the sound of that.

Midnight came quickly, and soon the entire pack was gathered in the central cavern. For once, Maour and Toothless were not in the middle, presenting.

'Is this the first time we _haven't_ been the center of attention?' Toothless asked in amusement.

"Since we got here… yes." Maour smirked. "Get used to it. I rather like not being the one up there."

'Same,' Toothless agreed.

'Everyone,' Nóttskarpur said with an annoyed roar, 'if you would quiet down, we can be done here sooner.'

Silence fell. That worked. Maour made a mental note to remember that trick.

'Good.' Nóttskarpur looked at her mate, who made eye contact. Maour was too far away to see if there was any communication through expression going on.

'I believe the three humans Maour has selected are ready,' Nóttskarpur announced. 'I have seen true emotion in response to outside threats, in a time and situation where no one would be aware of the need to fake anything, even if they could defeat the smell of dishonesty.'

A quiet rumble. No one objected.

'Is it really this easy?' Toothless sounded quite annoyed.

"She's a Nótt," Maour reminded his brother. "If they aren't suspicious, no one will be. They trust her to be very sure."

'So I should _not_ expect sudden attacks from angry Furies when we bring them here?'

Maour recalled Einfari shooting at him, and later Nóttreiði going after them. "Ideally no, and remember who was doing the attacking when we showed up?" Nóttleiðtogi would ensure that did not happen again, if Nóttskarpur had not already done so.

Toothless huffed. 'Oh, right. So it's going to be boring.'

"Probably." Maour looked out and saw that Nóttskarpur was already done talking. "They set a plan, set conditions, and now that the conditions are met, they just go with it. No second-guessing, no objections." It was strange… but in a good way.

As it turned out, there was one more thing to do, Von carrying a message. 'Mom wants you two by the beach.'

Maour turned to Toothless. "Did we forget to do something?"

Toothless shrugged his wings, walking out of the cave. 'Why do you instantly assume she needs a reason to want to spend time with… you know what, forget I asked.'

Maour laughed. "True, very true. But I still feel like she has a reason for not coming herself."

They quickly took to the sky and traversed the island. It was a large island, but in the air distances were not so inconvenient.

'You were right,' Toothless remarked as the beach came into sight, four Furies waiting for them, 'we must have forgotten something.'

"Yeah," Maour said slowly, thinking. "Cloey, Berg, Blast and Boom." Then it hit him. "Right. We need to teach them how to link. Better to be sure they can."

'It should not be hard,' They set down close by, and Toothless roared a greeting. 'So, are we late?'

'Given we didn't know this was happening until half an hour ago, no,' Berg remarked.

'I forgot to tell you two,' Cloey admitted, walking up to them and absently nuzzling them both in turn. 'Sorry. But I think this should go quickly.'

"It's not like we were doing anything," Maour quickly reassured her. "So, teaching them to link."

'Trying too.' Cloey growled. 'I have explained what it should feel like.'

'Crazy,' Blast groaned. 'Even for us.'

'Fascinating.' Eldurberg was purring. 'I do have many more questions.'

'Later.' Cloey looked out to the forest. 'But we need to let them practice.'

"Uh…" Maour took a step back. "Is that necessary?" He didn't really want to be linked to any other dragons, even ignoring the fact that they had no idea what that would do.

'Not you,' Cloey clarified. 'The same process works on animals, remember?'

'Terrors, deer, pretty much anything,' Toothless agreed. 'Do we have any of those?'

'That is what we were just discussing,' Cloey sighed, turning to the Myrkur siblings. 'Thirty fish over a week.'

'Forty,' Boom countered, her voice serious. She narrowed her eyes. 'It took us all day to catch them, and they were meant for Eldurhjarta.'

Berg leaped in surprise, glaring at the Myrkurs. 'Hey!'

'What? You were complaining about her last night,' Blast countered, sounding defensive. 'She needs a scare.'

'I don't want to know,' Toothless quietly groaned. Maour shared that sentiment.

'Thirty, and I don't tell your parents,' Cloey snarled. 'You should know better.'

'Fine, thirty.' Blast jumped into the air and flew off. Boom remained, looking disgruntled.

"So.. what are they getting?"

'Mice,' Cloey sighed. 'I don't even know how they caught them, but they are animals, and it's better than having to catch them now. Worth dropping off some fish at their cavern for a while.'

Well… it seemed they were waiting. Maour idly drew in the sand, wondering how something as big as a Night Fury managed to find and catch mice at all. For that matter, he hadn't really been aware of mice even residing on this island. There were a few birds, but he hadn't seen much of anything else. That didn't mean they weren't around though. He might just not be looking in the right places.

Then a muffled thud caught his attention. He turned to see Blast, his face driven into the sand.

'Why did you land like that?' Toothless was laughing, his voice amused.

'They're in my claws,' Blast explained as he spit sand, lying on his side with clutched claws. 'I can't stand up like this.'

"Okay…" Maour quickly dug some small pits in the sand, making the sides smooth and vertical. "Dump them in here."

Blast rolled over and dropped four brown mice into the closest pit. They seemed dazed, not really moving, but their rolling eyes and quaking bodies proved they were alive.

'You know,' Berg remarked, looking at the test subjects, 'I feel kind of bad for them.'

Maour tried not to compare the plight of the mice to anything in his past, focusing on the present. "We can let them go after."

'Right,' Cloey agreed, 'if cutting the connection doesn't kill them.' She nodded to Eldurberg. 'You first, as you were actually paying attention.'

Berg obediently dropped a paw into the hole and grabbed a mouse. Maour was impressed that he could do so without injuring it with his claws.

Then there was silence for a moment. Berg grunted, closing his eyes. 'Like that…'

"Is it working?" Maour asked tentatively.

'How should we know?' Toothless chuffed. 'It's not exactly obvious.'

'Oh!' Berg let the mouse loose, and it scurried off before anyone could do anything, disappearing over a small rise. 'It worked!'

'But now you let it go,' Cloey observed. 'To see what it sees?'

'Sure, let's go with that.' Berg nodded. 'So just do this with Fishlegs?'

'That's really all there is to it,' Toothless purred. 'I did nothing different.'

'Okay.' Berg nodded. 'I see what it sees, hear what it hears, everything. How do I get this to stop? I don't really feel like watching the life of a mouse in my head forever, even if I can ignore it. Maybe later.' There was an inquisitive tone to that Maour now identified as insatiable curiosity.

'That's the thing,' Cloey laughed. 'You either have to knock it out, which means finding it, or knock yourself out.'

Maour noticed there was no mention of death in those options. Maybe it was better if that way of severing the link was not put into anyone's mind unnecessarily.

'I've got you!' Blast yelled and thumped Eldurberg's head with his paw.

Berg growled. 'Stop it. I'd rather someone I trust does that.'

'You don't trust us?' Boom reeled back in mock surprise. 'I'm hurt.'

'Besides, we know how hard to hit,' Blast added. He reared up and hit Berg again, much harder. Berg dropped like a rock, which was fitting given what his name meant.

'I knew that was going to come in handy,' Boom purred smugly. 'Totally worth the head injuries to figure out.'

Toothless nudged Berg, probably checking if he was still breathing. 'Well… I guess that works.'

'My turn.' Boom grabbed at the remaining mice, picking one up quite suddenly.

'No, mine!' Blast took another.

After a moment, both of them shrugged almost simultaneously.

"Well?" Maour wouldn't be surprised if they needed to be told again how to do it.

'It works, but it's really weird, seeing the underside of my paw,' Boom said. 'I need to wash more.'

'I've been saying that for years,' Blast remarked, letting his mouse go. 'Now come over here so I can knock you out.'

'But then who does you?' Boom let her mouse go free. 'I want to knock you out.'

'We could wait until the other one wakes up…' Blast mused.

'Or we could headbutt and hope for the best!' Boom finished with a chuff.

'Perfect.' Blast backed up a few feet. 'On three?'

'Is this a good idea?' Toothless looked to Cloey.

Cloey shrugged. 'I've seen them do worse to each other than this.'

'Three!' both Myrkurs called out and rushed each other, slamming their foreheads together and dropping immediately.

'I don't know whether I should be impressed or worried that they can do that,' Toothless rumbled.

"Worried." Maour used his hand to dig an escape ramp for the last mouse, which scampered off as soon as there was a way out. "Definitely worried."

The rest of that night passed quickly, and then they were up in the air again.

'I'm really getting tired of this flight,' Toothless complained. 'It's so long and boring.' Having made it so often recently would do that.

"So am I." Maour made his decision on the subject official. "After all of this, we'll start working on a forge here." He had the small garden already going, so that was the only other thing keeping them coming back, once the teens were relocated.

Toothless celebrated that with a plasma blast that detonated in the air, a colorful explosion in the night. 'Great!'

The trip lingered, time passing insufferably slowly. This time, they had something big and important to anticipate. The other Furies were just as excited.

However, when they arrived on Mahelmetan, the Furies immediately… went to sleep.

Fishlegs took in the sight of entirely comatose dragons outside their fort. "Are they okay?"

"Fine." Maour smiled. "But the next few hours will be boring. They need to rest before the flight we've got planned." Carrying passengers the whole way would be more taxing than the others were used to.

"I see saddles. Yes! Now we can fly!" Ruffnut and Tuffnut were ecstatic about the prospect of getting back into the air.

"We'll be flying all day, but no tricks. The dragons need all of their energy for this. It's a long trip." Maour gestured to the sleeping Furies. "So settle down, it will be a while before we go."

They would be flying back to Mahelmetan as soon as possible today, instead of waiting for sundown. There was one other complication, but Maour had brought what he needed for that. The biggest challenge would be explaining all of this. He figured quick and direct would be the easiest way to do it.

But that too had to wait until almost noon. Maour woke Toothless, who woke the others with a commanding bark. They stretched, caught a quick meal, and returned to the fort, ready to go.

Maour gestured for the teens to get on. "We'd better get going. I'll explain on the way."

Fishlegs scrambled onto Berg's back. The twins vaulted into their saddles. Once they were settled, the four dragons took off. They immediately set out to sea.

"Are we going to finally get to see where you live?" Fishlegs had obviously spent the last few hours puzzling over the situation.

Maour smiled mysteriously. "You'll get to be there. But you won't get to see it. This isn't a casual visit. We have something important to do there. You aren't quite trusted enough to know where the island is, or see any of it, save for one important place." He took in Fishlegs' crestfallen and slightly hurt expression. "Not me. I think you're ready, that's why we're going. I'm not the ones we have to convince." He wouldn't say any more than that.

After about an hour, Maour sighed. "Alright. Everyone, the place we're going is secret. So secret, that there are blindfolds stored in a compartment on your saddles. You need to put them on. I'm afraid you'll have to wear them for the rest of the trip. It's the only way to keep this place safe. If things go the way I think they will, this will be the only time this is necessary." He glared at the twins. "And if I catch you peeking, Blast and Boom will drop you into the ocean, and leave you there. They would do it because they will protect their home at all costs. They wouldn't like it, but they would do it." He actually was pretty sure they wouldn't, but he needed to convey the seriousness of this.

Tuffnut sighed. "Fine. But if I'm wearing a blindfold all day, can I at least sleep? I assume that's what these tethers are for." He began attaching tethers to his flight harness. Ruffnut and Fishlegs followed suit. Maour was surprised Tuffnut had thought to attach the tethers before putting the blindfold on. He watched carefully as all three teens put on the blindfolds. They all seemed secure.

'They can't see anymore. Head for home,' Toothless informed the other dragons, and they all began to fly in random circles. Once they were sure their passengers were disoriented, they set off in the true direction of the island. Maour was pretty sure Fishlegs was smart enough to figure out vaguely which direction they were going in. But it wouldn't help him, because they were going to fly on an arc there, not a straight line. Any direction Fishlegs decided on would be wrong, and in a flight of this distance, it would likely be hundreds of miles off target. Not that Maour thought this was necessary; they were just being careful.

The twins passed the time by telling jokes. Maour and Fishlegs talked. Toothless listened intently and often offered his own opinions on the subject at hand, which Maour relayed for Fishlegs to hear. Fishlegs had a few questions about dragons in general, and Maour answered what he could, aided by Toothless's input.

After several such questions, Fishlegs sighed. "It would be nice to understand Berg without a translator. There's only so much that can be said with charades." He blindly placed a hand on Berg's wide neck. "I have so many questions, but it would take way too long for him to answer in detail."

Maour had to hide a smile. If things went well, that wouldn't be a problem for long. Cloey and Toothless had succeeded in teaching Blast, Boom, and Berg how to link, after all.

Finally, they flew into the airspace above the island. It was shortly after sunset. The twins had slept the whole way, and Fishlegs had slept part of the way. That was good; They'd be up all night. The three Furies with blindfolded passengers waited in the air, circling around aimlessly. Maour and Toothless went to the central cave, where everyone was gathered, and told them that they were there, and coming in.

Maour woke up the teens by having Toothless roar at full volume. That got them up. "Okay guys, we're heading in. Don't take the blindfolds off just yet, I'll tell you when."

The four Furies flew into the cave entrance and walked to the central cavern. Then they all flew up to the central pillar.

"Okay. First off, don't get out of the saddle. There isn't anywhere else to stand with four Furies up here. Second, don't freak out. These are the people who'll decide if you can be fully trusted or not. Take off the blindfolds." Maour watched the teens carefully for signs of panic.

When Fishlegs took off the blindfold, he gasped, wondering if he had been struck blind for real. Then he saw a very faint glow coming from what looked like moss in the distance. Aside from that, he could see nothing. Nothing... except pairs of eyes. A few green, some yellow, some red, and some a color Fishlegs hadn't yet seen on a Fury, grey. A quick count revealed sixteen pairs of eyes. Way more than he had ever suspected.

"Wow..." Ruffnut seemed awed.

"So many Night Furies..." So did Tuffnut.

All three of the teens abruptly snapped back to reality when Maour spoke. "We've brought you here because the pack wants to talk to you. To ask you a few questions. Answer truthfully, and you'll be fine. Remember, dragons can smell lies." He grinned. "And insanity, so I am proud to pronounce Ruffnut and Tuffnut as entirely sane, medically speaking! Although the knocks to the head might have messed you up in other ways..."

Maour cleared his throat. "Anyway, I'll introduce the families now. There are the Myrkurs which are the yellow-eyed Furies, the Eldurs which are the red-eyed Furies, the Nótts which are the grey-eyed Furies, and the Svarturs, who all have green eyes." He said that part with a smile. Fishlegs felt that there was something different in the way that Maour had introduced the Svarturs, but he dismissed that thought as not important at the moment.

Maour continued. "The assembled Furies want to ask you each a few questions. The first is coming from the Nótt, and is for all of you." A Fury growled. "She wants to know what your loyalties are."

Fishlegs gulped. That was a hard question, but he had already answered a similar one from Maour. "I can only speak for myself, but the only loyalties I really have left are to my immediate family. But I don't think they can accept what I know about dragons. So that really doesn't go very far anymore. I won't hurt them, but I might have to defend myself from them if I ever went back, so I don't want to go back. I probably would have ended up leaving Berk even if all of this hadn't happened, but now I really can't go back to stay there. I definitely am not loyal to Berk anymore. The people wielding power there are either crazy or cruel." He was referring to Astrid and Snotlout, as they were the next generation of Berk's leadership.

"The only other real connection I have is to Berg, Maour and the twins. I'm loyal to my friends. I don't really know if I can count Toothless, Blast, or Boom as friends yet, but I hope to eventually. That's about it."

Hopefully that was what they wanted to hear. It was the truth, in any case.

The way Fishlegs answered, Maour had a strong feeling Fishlegs knew what answer was hoped for. And what he had said was true. That was good, as Nóttleiðtogi was positioned on a ledge very close to directly above the teens. With no wind, the Nótt was getting a good read on their scents. An alarm would be raised if anyone lied.

"Well, I think I speak for my brother and me when I say what Fishlegs said applies to us, too. Except for the family part. Thorstons fight all the time." Tuffnut nodded, agreeing that his sister spoke for them.

Nóttskarpur warbled agreeably. She seemed mollified by the answer. Maour knew that the Nótts were asking to ensure there were no lingering loyalties to Berk or Vikings as a whole. As Nóttleiðtogi had not objected, everyone knew that only the complete truth had been spoken. That made it much easier to trust the teens.

A Fury from the Myrkur side crooned as he asked a question. Maour relayed it. "Ruff and Tuff, one of the Myrkurs wants to know what you do for fun."

Tuffnut immediately answered. "Well, we like pulling pranks and stunts. And fighting each other." The other families seemed non-plussed by this information, but the Myrkurs nodded among themselves. They liked the enthusiasm in Tuffnut's voice. They had heard from Blast and Boom of how the twins passed their trials with flying colors. Literally. The twins had both puked near the end, and kept on going like nothing had happened. While free-falling, which actually implied that they didn't have a choice about continuing. Still, it had been impressive, if gross.

The Myrkur Fury grunted in acknowledgment. Then an Eldur Fury rumbled a question. Maour again translated. "This is for Fishlegs. Why do you collect knowledge?" Maour winced. This might be a bit long-winded, and Toothless was having to translate what the teens said for any Furies who didn't completely understand their language yet. To Maour's surprise, Fishlegs was brief.

"I like knowing how the world works, and what happened in the past. It helps me understand what is going on around me. And it's fun learning new stuff." The twins silently gagged at that. They avoided non-explosive or violent subjects as if their lives depended on it. They had only been successfully taught to read by being given weapon manuals.

The Eldurs began discussing that among themselves. Maour knew by now that they wouldn't stop for a while, so he took the next question. It was from Shadow. He smiled as he relayed it. "This one is from a Svartur Fury. He wants to know what you would do to defend your friends, how far you would be willing to go." The question was serious, and all three teens thought for a long moment.

It was Tuffnut who answered for all of them. "As far as need be. In defense of the life of a friend or their family, anything we can do in good conscience." It was a very serious and non-crazy statement, and Maour was once again reminded the twins were capable of that.

Shadow immediately followed up on that.

Maour relayed it. "The Svartur Fury wants to know if you understand that defending Berg, Blast, and Boom might force you to choose between them and Berk, or Vikings you know. Who would you side with?"

Fishlegs frowned. "That would depend on why they were fighting. If for some insane reason Berg decided to go on a rampage and kill for no reason, I'd try to stop him without hurting anyone. But in all likelihood, it would be the Vikings attacking Berg, and I would defend him without hesitation. Vikings kill dragons for no reason. Dragons do not kill Vikings for no reason unless forced to by someone else. We would side with whoever is in the right."

Shadow smiled, a gesture the teens couldn't see in the darkness. Maour could, and he smiled back. That had been Shadow's biggest worry, that the teens might blindly declare to defend their friends no matter what. A follower was not what they were supposed to be. Furies valued independent thinking. Fishlegs had given the best possible answer, in his eyes.

There were more specific questions after that. But those first few had been the important ones. Finally, all the questions had been answered. Maour made sure no one had any more and then moved the meeting to the next stage. "I call on the families to vote." It had been decided that the families would vote first, and extend the offer to the teens only if the families agreed. That way, it would then be the teens' choice to make.

The three representatives flew out again. They each voted yes, with no reservations. Maour was a bit surprised the Nótt had none, but he supposed they weren't in the habit of objecting to every proposal, just ones where they really had something to add. It probably helped that Nóttleiðtogi did not want to make the same mistake twice.

"It has been agreed upon. The offer will be extended to Fishlegs, Ruffnut, and Tuffnut." He had learned a bit of the formality for this exact event. He turned back to the teens. They seemed a bit confused with the last few things he had said. They could only hear his side of the conversation, after all.

"What offer?" Fishlegs seemed to know where this was going and was asking for the twins' benefit. Maour and Toothless both smiled.

"The pack has decided to make you members if you want to. That would mean you are one of us. The dragon equivalent of a tribe. Fishlegs would be a member of the Eldurs, and the twins the Myrkurs. You would be allowed to live here, with the families of your Fury friends. And they would link with you, which in time would allow you to speak to and be heard by all dragons, along with the enhanced eyesight necessary to adapt to a nocturnal sleep schedule, among other small things. You would be like me, in almost every way."

"Link?" Fishlegs was confused now. "What do you mean by that?"

"It's a mental thing they can do," Maour explained. This specific information had been mostly held back, on the request of the Nótts, who had been adamant about it being a massive tactical advantage. That did make this a little harder, given the teens were only now hearing about it.

"I thought you learned their language," Fishlegs objected.

"In the space of a few weeks, thanks to the link. Trust me Fishlegs, you'll like what it can do, and it's all voluntary even after it's established."

"That sounds good then." Fishlegs smiled. "And I can talk to Berg?"

"Of course." Maour looked at the twins. "Any other questions?"

"You said like you in almost every way. What would the exception be?" Ruffnut seemed to be curious about that. "Are you the ultimate leader of the humans, or something?" She didn't seem to be joking.

"No, nothing like that. Just a difference in semantics, if an important one to me personally. You, and I when I was accepted, are charges of the families. You would be in every way a member of that family, but not officially related to anyone." Maour hoped that would satisfy them. He wanted to explain his particular situation later.

"That implies you are officially related to someone in the Svartur family." Fishlegs had asked anyway. Oh well.

"Yup. I was officially adopted by Toothless's mom, so we're brothers." He would explain the rest later. They would have time.

"Huh. I guess that is one difference." Tuffnut seemed a bit put out by that. "Would we have to..? Because I already have way too many uncles and aunts!"

Maour laughed. "I was a special case. I don't expect that to happen to you guys. You still have family out there." He gestured to them. "So? It's a big adjustment, and some parts will literally take months, but it can be done. I'm proof of that."

Ruffnut looked at Tuffnut. They nodded in unison. "We get to live on an island with Night Furies, instead of a fort in a tiny patch of woods? Count us in!" Despite the apparent flippancy in her words, his tone said that they weren't making the decision lightly.

Fishlegs hesitated a moment more. "Okay, but I'm going to have to go tell my mom I won't be coming back after all. I kinda promised to come back in my note."

Maour knew that was going to come up. That was the other big thing the Furies had worked out. "We expected that. We'll all go back to Berk, so you three can explain you won't be coming back. That way they won't worry." As much, he thought to himself. Or maybe they'll worry more. But at least they will know.

"So, you all accept the offer? Knowing that your new loyalty will be to the pack, and that betraying it is, I'm obligated to inform you, severely punishable?" He smiled in reassurance. "That already applies to me, and it isn't a problem."

After a few moments of hesitation, and what was probably some unspoken agreement between the twins, the teens nodded.

"We accept your offer." Fishlegs projected his voice to address the entire cave. "And thank you for giving us a chance."

And so the pack's human population rose to four. It would take months for the abilities needed to fully integrate into the pack to fully manifest. But they were official members now. Now they had some things to do.

"Well, let's get started!" Maour was ready. They would leave for Berk in a few days. But there were other things to do in the meantime. And he had his own reasons for one final visit to Berk. Reasons no one but Toothless, Cloey, Shadow, Von, and himself knew.

**_Author's Note:_ ** **No tropes, I said, unless they were required. Fishlegs and the twins were going to have to go back, and of course Maour would take the chance to end some unfinished business. As a reassurance, we will not be ending this book with some stupid cliffhanger on Berk, such as someone being captured. Maour and Toothless, in particular, are almost entirely done with Berk. This is a tying up (and creating) of loose ends.**


	38. Chapter 38

"So, now what?" Fishlegs was sitting with Ruffnut and Tuffnut. They could see fairly well, as it was close to a full moon that night, and they were sitting outside. Berg, Blast, and Boom were standing nearby, and Maour and Toothless were in front of them. They were close to the Svartur family cave entrance. Maour had a few things he wanted to do before daybreak. First on the list was to explain why they had to be done by daybreak.

"There are a few things. But we all need to be asleep by sunrise. You'll have to change your sleep schedule, and the trip to Berk is much safer done nocturnally, anyway. Human activity is easier to spot when torches are the brightest thing for miles. We'll probably leave the night after tomorrow night." He considered logistics. "The trip to Berk should take about two weeks because we'll have to island-hop."

Tuffnut groaned in frustration. "Only two weeks? Where were you during our two _month_ boat trip to from Berk to Mahelmetan? You make two weeks sound slow!" He collapsed dramatically, slumping against Blast's side. "You have no idea how many of Trader Johann's stories we know by heart now. That was all he'd do, every day. Tell stories. I still have nightmares..."

Maour laughed, remembering Trader Johann's overdramatic renditions of his various adventures. It was possible Tuffnut wasn't exaggerating by much. "We could probably make it in one if it was a trip over land. But we can't go in a straight line, because we need land to stop and rest up. So two weeks does feel slow to me."

He decided to move on before Tuffnut objected to that too. "Right now, I think you three should link with your dragons. The sooner that starts, the sooner you will start developing the side-effects. You'll be able to talk to them immediately, among other things."

"Could you tell us a bit about what it does?" Fishlegs looked at Berg nervously. "There's no crazy 'two bodies; one mind' thing involved, is there? "

'What is that even supposed to mean?' Berg asked curiously.

"Berg doesn't even know what you mean by that," Maour commented wryly, "and no. You can access his senses, like sight or hearing, and he can access yours. Using his senses will let you hear all dragons in time even with your own ears, and change a few other small things."

"That sounds great." Fishlegs looked at Toothless. "Berg will be able to see out of my eyes whenever he wants?"

"And you with his. I'm sure you two can work it out." Maour turned to the twins. "As for you guys… I figure you have no problems with gaining a new set of eyes and ears, along with being able to talk to dragons."

"Maour, you have enabled us to perform feats of insanity no mere mortal should be capable of," Ruffnut said seriously. "You have given us allies, allies with plasma blasts, speed, and devious minds. And now you ask if we want even more advantages in our work?"  
"It was a stupid question, basically," Tuffnut summed up.

Maour was feeling slightly worried, now that Ruffnut had put it that way. "No destroying entire islands, no hurting people, and no doing damage you can't fix." It was too much to say not to destroy things, knowing the twins. "And by fix, I mean as good as new, quickly."

'We already follow those rules, don't worry.' Boom shrugged. 'We live on a flammable island. The twins have to play by our rules here.'

"Spoilsport," Tuffnut grumbled. "Fine."

"Okay, no objections." Maour gestured to all three of the teens. "Go for it."

"Alright!" With that Ruffnut stood. Boom stared at her. She stared back. "Uh, how does this work?"

Maour laughed. "Place your hand on her head and trust her completely." He wasn't sure if the last part was necessary, but it couldn't hurt. The three teens all went to do that with their respective Furies. Maour remembered as they moved into position what had happened immediately after when it happened to him. He decided not to say anything.

In unison, all three Furies dropped like flies, and the teens all started moaning in pain as they cradled their heads. Maour and Toothless winced in sympathy.

'Should we have told them about that part? I had forgotten completely. It only happened the first time." Toothless sounded more speculative that guilty. 'And it doesn't happen with animals.'

"Well, I guess I should be flattered my mind is more complicated than a mouse. I'm not sure what difference it would have made. But if trust is an important part of this, it probably wouldn't have helped to know it hurts like crazy for a minute or so."

'True.' They stood there for a few more moments. 'Hey, Eldurberg is waking up. So are Blast and Boom,' Toothless remarked.

They watched in amusement as the teens got up and proceeded to freak out about the various facets of the link for a while. Ruff and Tuff were busy checking out what Blast and Boom could see, and vice versa, making themselves dizzy from switching back and forth. Fishlegs and Berg were enjoying their first conversation without the encumberment of a language barrier on one end. They would all be busy for a while.

"Guys, you all seem in good hands. The Furies know this place, so just stick with them. Try to sleep as much as possible in the day, and we'll see you tomorrow night."

Maour figured he and Toothless were no longer needed, so they headed out to sea and grabbed fish for the family. It was a bit after midnight by the time they returned to find Cloey, Von, and Shadow waiting for them in the cave.

'Nice work.' Shadow was happy with the outcome of that meeting.

Cloey had a more important message. 'Now spend some time with us. You'll be gone for a month after tomorrow. I'm guessing your friends are busy right now.'

'Yup. I just hope they got the message about sleeping during the day. They'll be wiped out tomorrow night if they don't.' With that Toothless started tossing fish to everyone else. They spent the rest of the night together and went for a flight later. After the flight, when they were all together in the central part of their section of the cavern, Shadow asked Maour and Toothless something they had not been expecting.

'I was wondering... would you two mind if I came along?'

Before they could say anything, Von chimed in.

'I was going to ask that! I want to see the cove and their cave.' She looked at Shadow. 'Could we both go?'

Cloey was already shaking her head ruefully. 'I was going to suggest I come along myself. I've traveled that route with them before.' She took in Shadow and Von's expressions of disappointment. 'But it looks like we all have a reason to go. Do you two think you would mind us making this a family trip?'

Maour laughed happily. Toothless purred in acceptance. Maour spoke for both of them. "Sure! Safety in numbers, right?" He abruptly frowned. "But you'll have to be very careful around the village. We are going to get Fishlegs and the twins in, have them discreetly say goodbye, and get them out." He braced himself. "And while Blast, Boom, and Berg are doing that, Toothless and I have a note to deliver."

Cloey and Shadow nodded, while Von smiled tentatively in support. They knew what that was about.

Shadow spoke as he moved to sit next to Maour. 'We'll look after the teens and their bonds from the sky in case something goes really wrong. You two will be safer on your own, most likely. You know that village; we don't.'

With that, Toothless smiled. It was a gesture the entire Svartur family used naturally now. 'And we'd be happy for the extra backup. You all know we leave the night after tomorrow.'

After that, the conversation turned to other things. Maour and Toothless were reassured by the fact that the entire family would be going. The younger three drifted off to bed, leaving Cloey and Shadow alone in the central cavern. Shadow turned to Cloey.

'I think I know what you have planned.' He elaborated on his suspicions. Cloey purred.

'Exactly right. Do you want to join me on that little side trip when we get there?' Her voice was content but held just a hint of anger not directed at Shadow.

'Definitely. I think Maour has said enough about his past that we know where to go when we get there. It shouldn't take long.' Shadow's voice held the same hint of anger now. 'I was planning something similar myself. Now it will be twice as effective.'

The next night was mostly spent preparing for the journey. While the teens got more used to riding, Maour and the rest of the Svartur family planned the route they would take there and back. They eventually decided on which chain of islands they would land on to make the trip as safe as possible. There was only one inhabited island on that list, aside from Berk itself. It would take two weeks exactly, assuming no delays.

Other than that, the travelers spent the day mostly on their own, knowing this was the last completely free time that they would have for a month. Maour and Toothless decided to take a long run through the forest. After that, they continued their habit of Maour practicing with the scythe while Toothless watched. After a few months of daily practice, Maour was getting genuinely good with the weapon. He still had a ways to go to be able to best extremely skilled opponents, or more than one opponent at once, but Toothless was confident that, if Hiccup were attacked by a Nightmare again as he was when Toothless was captured by the queen, it would be a lot less one-sided this time around.

That was how the last day before the trip was spent. They all slept as best they could the following day, and at sunset the next night they set off. Luckily for Fishlegs and the twins, they were already equipped with cold-weather clothing, so there was no disastrous repeat of Maour's first all-night flight and ensuing fever. Although this time there was no sleep-flying, as all the Furies were adjusted to nocturnal schedules. In the light of the fading sunset, Maour made some important introductions.

"Maour, who are they?" Fishlegs was pointing to the three Furies that had risen out of the caves exits to meet them as the four bonded pairs set off. He stared as they leveled out, keeping formation with Toothless.

"Hey, they all have green eyes!" That was Tuffnut, who was slightly more awake than Ruffnut. The three teens were still adjusting to sleeping during the day.

Maour smiled and said, "Well, let's just say they decided to make this trip a family outing." He gestured to each in turn. "This one is Svarturvon, Toothless' sister. Svarturkló and Svartskuggi are their parents and, I never told you this, but they accepted me as their adopted son, and gave me the name Svarturflugmaður. I may call them by some nickname, but please use their proper names."

Ruffnut laughed. "You did say all the Svarturs had green eyes. That just so happens to include you!" She smiled. "And you have a sister? Lucky."

Tuffnut sighed dramatically. "My condolences. I share your pain." He eyed Ruffnut. "Sisters are obnoxious."

Toothless wasn't pleased with that, and neither was Maour, though he knew better than to take it too seriously. Toothless moved over to Blast and Tuffnut, and growled at Tuffnut. Maour chimed in too. "Watch it, Tuffnut."

Blast hadn't been paying attention, but when he figured out what Tuffnut had said, he slapped him with his ears.

"Ouch! Hey, what was that for?" Tuffnut was addressing Blast directly.

'You don't insult Von. You're lucky Toothless and Maour settled for a growl and a warning. I don't want to be dragged into a fight with them.' Blast was more of a subtle humor person. Direct insults weren't his preferred method. 'Besides, Von is great. And do you really think it's a good idea to be rude in front of her parents?'

Tuffnut looked back. Cloey, Shadow, and Von herself were all glaring at him. "Sorry Von." They stopped glaring. They had heard enough from Maour to not take it too personally.

Meanwhile, Fishlegs was staring at Cloey. When she noticed, she looked at him questioningly.

'Svarturkló wants to know why you are staring.' Berg had been asked to relay that message. It would be at least a few days before the teens could hear all dragons, even though they had almost immediately learned to pin the senses they needed to improve open ever so slightly. Until then, their bonds acted as translators for the other dragons.

"Oh, sorry Svarturkló. It's just I think I recognize that scar. Are you the Fury that was struck by lightning during the raid?"

Cloey nodded. The twins were watching, and they caught on to what that meant.

"Wow, that was Toothless's mother the entire time?" Tuffnut laughed. "Toothless, are you telling me your mom had to come save you from the Queen? You, the fearsome warrior?"

'Yup. I'm not embarrassed by that, either. She's just as much of a fighter as I am, and she has way more experience. So does Shadow.' The teens' bonds relayed that to them. Cloey bared her teeth in a toothy smile.

"Yikes. Not going to question that." Ruffnut showed a bit of wisdom. She quickly changed the subject. "So, you guys have any interesting stories from the time you spent searching for the other Furies?"

Maour was only too happy to oblige them. He started with the story of the two hunters and the beach. Fishlegs interrupted almost immediately.

"Wait, was the name of one of them Thorgils?" He seemed excited.

'Yes. Where did you hear about this?' Toothless growled. 'We may have a promise to keep.'

"I heard this story from the other hunter. He told the guy he was talking to that Thorgils had changed occupations, and was planning on keeping his oath." Fishlegs explained quickly. He had noticed the promise of revenge conveyed by Toothless' growling and flexing claws even though his words were relayed calmly by Berg. He wanted no part of that anger.

"Good. We promised that hunter that if we heard he wasn't keeping to his oath, well..." Maour trailed off. Then he continued the story.

Tuffnut laughed once he was finished. "You like hiding dragons in plain sight, don't you Maour? First two Furies in the sand, then a Fury in a pile of sticks and leaves."

Fishlegs groaned. "That almost gave me a heart attack! And by the way, saying 'don't have a heart attack' right before a shock doesn't help!"

'Sorry. It's what we always do when Maour goes into the village there. Keeps me safely hidden so I can sleep. Or scare unsuspecting bystanders.' Toothless laughed.

The discussion turned to another incident, and another, and before they knew it they had to stop for the day. The next two weeks passed in a similar fashion. By the fifth day, the teens could hear all the dragons talking. That opened up a lot of conversational options. But all of the travelers had their own reasons to be nervous, and that made the time fly by.

"This is Berk." Maour was gesturing dramatically, as they soared over the village. His voice was full of humor. "It's twelve days north of hopeless, and a few degrees south of freezing to death. Located solidly on the meridian of misery." The twins snorted at that. The group circled overhead, hidden in the dark night.

"The village. In a word, sturdy. It's been here for over seven generations, but every single building is new." Maour nodded towards the twins. "Thanks in a large part to dragons, but also the twins. They helped."

Ruffnut looked affronted by that. "Hey, some of your inventions contributed too! We can't take all of the credit."

Maour protested that. "But that was accidental. And I don't think I destroyed any whole buildings, just parts of buildings." He cleared his throat. "Where was I? Right. Any food that grows here is tough, tasteless. The people, even more so. They have fishing and a charming view of the sunsets. Not so much hunting. The only problem used to be the... _pests."_ Hiccup rolled his eyes at the Vikings' term for dragons. "But they're gone now." At that, his voice lost the sarcastic streak. "They might have stuck around, but apparently Astrid taught them to fear Berk."

'Not your fault.' Cloey felt the need to remind her sons of that.

"No, it isn't," Maour agreed. "But anyway, Berk. Stuck in the past, even when the war should be over. Its future leaders are either self-absorbed or insane, and the people here don't want to change."

Fishlegs nodded. "That would be why we left." He still wasn't quite ready to explain that to his parents yet. Luckily, Maour had anticipated that.

"We should wait until the middle of the night. In the meantime, we can go see the cove." Maour and Toothless peeled off, and the other Furies followed, soaring over the forest. They dropped straight into the cove after Toothless had confirmed that no one had been there since they left.

'It's just like you described.' Von seemed mesmerized by the place.

Shadow hadn't landed. He was circling a large dead tree curiously.

'What are you looking at, Shadow?' Toothless felt something poke at an old memory. Something about that tree. Maour followed his gaze and grinned a second before Shadow replied.

'Why is there a Viking shield up here?' Shadow seemed puzzled. 'Is this something you two did?'

Maour snorted. "Yeah. It was an accident. We forgot to take it down. There was a lot going on back then." He considered asking Shadow to take the shield down but decided against it. "You can leave it there. No one will ever notice."

After a few minutes they left the cove, and Maour and Toothless took the group to the cliffside ledge where a tunnel led to the cave system that served as their home after the cove was discovered. They explained what the place was, but didn't bother leading a tour of the inside. It was just a pitch black series of cylindrical tunnels. Its only beneficial properties were safety and secrecy. Maour explained that as they flew aimlessly through sea stacks.

"It was just somewhere to hide Toothless after Astrid found the cove. It doesn't really have any special memories like the cove does."

"Still cool though. Why is it you found all the cool hiding places on Berk when we could have used them?" Tuffnut was a bit put out by that.

Ruffnut had Boom barrel roll over Tuffnut and Blast, smacking them in the process. "Idiot. What could need more secrecy than hiding a Night Fury? Maour needed both of those places, so he found them. We didn't really need a place to hide, so we never went looking." That shut the conversation down. They went fishing a little after midnight and landed on a sea stack to go over the plan one more time.

"Everyone knows what they're doing, right?" Maour needed to be sure. The members of the group all nodded. "Good. We will all meet back here once we're done. Toothless and I will be back last, to make sure everyone got out all right." He didn't notice Cloey glance slyly at Shadow. "Okay, let's go get this done with." The group took off and flew towards the village of Berk one last time.

Ruffnut and Tuffnut stood at the back door to the Thorston household. Boom and Blast were sitting on the roof. Boom was using Ruffnut's senses, and Blast was keeping watch using his own. Despite the potential dangers he wanted to watch for inside, he was still thoughtful enough to ask permission first. This was probably going to get a bit emotional, even for Thorstons.

Ruffnut glanced at Tuffnut. "Should we knock?"

Tuffnut spun around and kicked the door open, an easy task after a lifetime of practice to unhook the latch by kicking it just right. "Nah."

The twins stepped inside and proceeded to sit down at the kitchen table and make some noise with the various kitchen utensils. This was something that always got their mother to come downstairs quickly, to stop whatever madness they would have been up to. Ruffnut realized that this might be the only time they did it intentionally to inform their mother of madness they had already done.

"Hey look, ten seconds. A new record." Tuffnut was a bit nervous. Why hadn't she come down yet?

He realized that maybe they hadn't thought things through when his mother leaped into the room armed with an ax and shield. They should have considered the fact that she didn't know they were back.

"Ruff? Tuff? Back already? That was a short adventure, though honestly, I expected you back sooner." She had relaxed immediately, and sounded only pleasantly surprised.

Tuffnut had also forgotten that this was a normal thing for Thorstons, disappearing randomly. Well, that would make things easier. He did not envy Fishlegs his overprotective mother.

"Yup, we're back. But not for long. We kinda found a purpose, something that doesn't involve Berk. We came back to tell you." Ruffnut couldn't continue, so Tuffnut did.

"We came back, to tell you we aren't coming back." Tuffnut stopped. Their mother set the ax and shield down. She sighed.

"I figured as much. Like your cousin Gruffnut. Where should I send letters?" She took in their utterly confused expressions. "Come on, you didn't think I was blind, right? I always thought you'd leave once people got used to your pranks. Adventuring is in the Thorston blood; some of us adventure for our whole lives. It doesn't mean I won't miss you." She hugged Ruffnut, and then Tuffnut. "So, where do I send letters? And where should I come to visit, for that matter?" Ruffnut and Tuffnut stared at each other. They had no idea how to explain that they couldn't tell their own mother where they'd be living. But as for letters...

"Trader Johann can get letters to us, eventually. It might take a while to get them though. We'll be sure to write back and maybe visit eventually. But we can't tell you where we'll be." Ruffnut seemed to have this one covered. Then she visibly flinched, as Boom informed her that a village watchman was approaching the house, probably wondering about why candles were lit at two in the morning. Their mother lived alone in this house, though most of her time was spent with their cousins. She was rarely ever alone. But it was still odd.

"Mom, we've gotta go. The watchman is coming, and we can't be seen. Actually, best you don't tell anyone we were here. Especially Astrid." Tuffnut had also been warned by Blast.

"At least let me see you two to your boat, wherever it is." Their mother stepped out the back door and gestured for them to lead the way. "Well, where did you dock?"

Tuffnut figured this was as good a time as any for a dramatic departure. Ruffnut felt the same. They stepped outside.

"Mom, there's a reason we can't be seen here." Ruffnut sounded sad. She knew their mother wouldn't understand. Maybe they could explain the safe parts through letters later. But for now...

"Yeah. If you want to be proud of us, close your eyes for a few seconds and we'll be gone. If you want to know the truth, keep them open."

Their mother looked worried. She kept her eyes open.

"Suit yourself. We will write letters. Please read them instead of burning them unopened. Even for Thorstons, this will look bad." Tuffnut gave up. "Blast, we're ready." He said that idly as if speaking to thin air.

He took in her expression of shock as two Night Furies leaped from the roof, and one landed behind each of her children. She gaped as they bowed in her direction. Then the twins vaulted onto the saddles and rose into the night in a powerful leap as the Furies ascended. The last words they heard were more annoyed than anything.

"You two knuckleheads better write!"

After circling for a while, Berg and Fishlegs rose from elsewhere in the village to join them.

"So, how did that cart-wreck go?" Tuffnut sounded morbidly curious.

"Fine, actually." Fishlegs shrugged. "Dad was understanding, and mom wasn't awake."

Ruffnut snickered. "You are in so much trouble the next time you see her."

"Yeah…" Fishlegs sighed. "Still better than explaining any of this to her myself now. Dad can do that."

"Hey, should we mess with any of the villagers while we wait?" Tuffnut pointed down at the village. "I like the idea of leaving some sheep on top of a few huts…"

'No way,' Blast said immediately. 'This place is dangerous, and Toothless will get us in trouble if we mess around here.'

"Fine." Tuffnut crossed his arms. "But we're doing stunts over the ocean on the way back, right?"

'Of course!' Boom said enthusiastically. 'Berg can catch you if you mess up!'

'I don't recall agreeing to that,' Berg rumbled as they flew off to wait for Maour, Toothless, and the Svartur parents.

Maour and Toothless touched down outside the forge. Maour quickly ran inside and stuck his letter inside Gobber's hammer prosthetic, specifically inside the hidden compartment. Hopefully, Gobber would notice it soon. Maour took in the sight of the place he might miss most in the village itself, and then he left.

He and Toothless were about to take off when he saw something moving by the docks. It wasn't a watchman.

Toothless soared silently overhead to get a closer look. Maour's breath caught in his throat as he recognized the figure standing on the edge of the dock.

Her ax was in her hands. It was definitely Astrid. He and Toothless had discussed one other possible plan for the night but dismissed it as too difficult. There was no way they would be able to confront Astrid when they had no idea where she'd be. At least, that had been the reason. But now it wasn't a problem.

'Do you want to try?' Toothless knew this plan was dangerous, but he agreed there were things that needed to be tried. Maour had wanted to try.

"Yes. But if she attacks you, don't hold back in the slightest. I won't if she attacks me." Maour pulled his scythe off of his back. He had, of course, brought it on this month-long voyage. "You should stay out of sight."

'Like I didn't know that.' Toothless set down by the base of the dock and hid there, invisible in the night but ready to attack in an instant if need be. Maour stood in the middle of the base of the dock, his scythe in its deceptively harmless-looking state of folded spikes. He too was ready to defend himself in an instant. There were things that needed to be said, but he was not expecting this to end in talking if he failed.

"Astrid."

The figure with the ax at the end of the dock stiffened.

"We need to talk," Maour continued, his voice confident, though he was more than a little nervous.

She strode slowly towards him. "Hiccup." It wasn't a question, despite the dark night lit only by the half-moon at this hour. "Talk?" Her voice was cold, spiked with anger, and a hint of something else. Maour shuddered. Her madness was progressing if he could hear it in her voice now. He wondered if the villagers of Berk could hear it.

"I would like to congratulate you," he said as sincerely as he could manage. It was fake, but this was his one plan for defusing Astrid. Give her what she wanted, what she had been going for this entire time. "You really are the best dragon-killer of our generation. Probably of all of Berk, even." That wasn't true right now, but in a few years, it would be at this rate.

She laughed mockingly, ax gripped tightly. "Hiccup the Useless telling me I'm the best dragon killer? Of course. But I'm not, thanks to you." She seemed to be shaking in rage. "You had the gall to ride a dragon to the Nest, and you managed to get me to lead the whole village there in time to _watch_ as you and two of our greatest enemies kill the biggest dragon in existence!" She pointed her ax at him angrily. "You and those two devils stole our chance at greatness. You killed it before we could even try! The greatest dragon killer of all time is you, and you stole that title from me. But I'm going to take it back."

Maour did not like the sound of that. "And how do you plan on doing that? Killing the dragons that don't want to fight anymore? There are no more raids, and you've taught the dragons to avoid Berk." Even as he asked, he knew what she would say. Nothing had changed, really, and nothing was going to.

"You ended the most dangerous dragon. But there was only one of them. Berk is going to wipe out every dragon species we can, starting with the most dangerous." She sneered. "Night Furies. And I will lead them in that endeavor." She gestured wildly at the boats docked beside them. "The nest hunt has changed targets. Now we hunt Night Fury nests. And we will destroy any Night Fury we find. I will kill as many as I can personally. Berk doesn't fear Night Furies. Because now we've seen one. They aren't 'the dragon no one has ever seen' anymore."

Maour shook his head. Astrid might not fear Night Furies, but he was pretty sure the average Viking still did and would continue to, and there had been no Fury nests within the Queen's range. The closest nest was probably his, and that was two months away by boat. Astrid could search for years and not come close. But he would warn her anyway.

"Astrid, you need to stop. They aren't being forced to fight anymore, so this is just pointless slaughter. And I will warn you right now. If you ever attack my home, I will stop you by whatever means are necessary." He would tell her this now. Maybe it would snap her out of it to hear him challenge her directly. Make her realize what she was saying, what she was doing.

He hadn't realized exactly what those words implied. But Astrid did.

"Traitor," she sneered. "You found a Night Fury nest, didn't you. And you're living with them?! You would defend those mindless beasts from the people who raised you, who grew up with you? From your own father?"

Maour sadly acknowledged that his last plan for placating Astrid had failed. She was irrevocably fixated on killing dragons and was focusing the efforts of an entire island on hunting down and killing his friends and family. However pointless those efforts might be. But she still wasn't done.

"Here on Berk, we kill traitors. And you have betrayed us, probably more times than can be counted." With that she lunged forward, swinging her ax.

Maour blocked. The force of the blow, angled as it was against his scythe, was enough to unlock the spikes, and they snapped into place. Just as he intended.

Astrid recoiled as a spike rotated into a position three inches away from her head. She rolled backward, trying to get away from the unguarded position she found herself in. Maour let her roll away. His weapon worked much better at a distance anyway.

Astrid stood from the crouch she had ended up in. Maour began spinning his scythe in a circle around the center, creating a wall of blue rod and purple blade between them. It was a purely intimidation-oriented move, designed to get her to think twice about attacking again. But she didn't stop to think at all. She swung in a chopping motion into the circle, intending to lock his staff in place with the curve of her ax.

She succeeded in that, but Maour had anticipated it and stepped forward, taking advantage of their weapons' arrested motion to punch Astrid in the face. She stumbled back a bit, but Maour wasn't strong enough to stun her. His hand hurt from that single hit but he rotated his scythe so that one blade hooked the ax away from astrid and the other blade swung right at her face.

Astrid blinked in surprise as the tip of the blade stopped just short of contact. Maour hadn't expected it to be this easy. He had figured his near night-vision would help if it came to combat, but Astrid had completely ignored all attempt at strategy or finesse. He wasn't sure why. Maybe she was too angry to think straight right now. If she had been fighting normally, this would have been much more difficult. But he was fine with this outcome.

"Well? I won't surrender to the likes of you!" Astrid tried to jerk her ax free but yelped as the tip of the scythe pricked the bridge of her nose and she froze. Maour wouldn't need to do anything. And still, she ranted at him. "Kill me like a Viking. I'll hunt you down if you don't!"

Maour knew that if he let her live, nothing in her warped mind would change, except he had defeated her in combat. It wouldn't drive her any crazier than she already was. By that same logic, killing her wasn't going to change much either. There were still others who would hunt Night Furies and dragons in general, and her plans stood no chance of succeeding.

Hiccup twisted his scythe around to shove Astrid's ax back toward her, causing her to stumble backward to catch her balance. He jumped back. "Toothless, fire."

'On it.' A small plasma blast lit the deck between them, letting Astrid get a good look at Maour's face for the first time in the whole encounter, and blocking her from approaching him. She got to her feet and stared angrily, unwilling to majorly burn herself in getting to him. She was stuck on the now isolated section of dock. The fire could be bypassed by going into the water below and to both sides, but she couldn't stop him from leaving if she did that. She settled for glaring at him and yelling. "You've betrayed your people, your home, the Viking way of life, and everything our parents stood for!"

He smiled at that, a grim expression. "I have betrayed the Viking way. However, I have not betrayed my home or my family. Because I have a real home now and it isn't Berk. And I have a real family now and they aren't Vikings. The only thing I have betrayed is the old, broken Viking way and I'm happy with that. Hiccup the Useless is gone. I've abandoned that name and been given new ones. I am Svarturflugmaður. If you attack my home or my people, we'll destroy you. But I don't kill in cold blood. I'm not like you."

With that, Toothless stepped out of the flickering shadows and stood by Maour's side. in one fluid motion, Mour sheathed his scythe on his back and leaped On Toothless. They left without another word. They were done with Berk.

Stoick woke at the insistent thumping at his door. It was the middle of the night; what could be going on? He knew Astrid was at the docks. She had taken a personal interest in her proposal that the nest hunts be retooled, and she seemed to be guarding the boats most nights. A bit obsessive, but useful.

He really should have had Snotlout get the door. As a part of declaring Snotlout his new heir, he had had the boy relocate to the chief's house. It was tradition, and Spitelout was happy to have Snotlout out of his hair and in a position of power. Stoick had cleared out Hiccup's old room for Snotlout. He was doing his best to forget his traitor of a son, as tradition decreed he should. He moved to answer the door, hammer in hand, and opened it.

Outside, waiting patiently, stood two Night Furies. He didn't freeze in shock, but he couldn't make himself attack at that moment either. The dragons as one snarled at him. They seemed ready to kill him. Then their faces abruptly cleared and they leaped up, out of sight.

He had recognized the lightning scar on the back of one, but the other had been unknown to him. He stepped outside, confused. They were definitely gone.

He would after a few moments rouse the village. They would discover the moderate damage to one dock. They would search the island and find nothing. Astrid would be absolutely livid, but tell no one the real reason. And the parents of the twins and Fishlegs would be silent and thoughtful.

Cloey and Shadow knew none of that as they flew off to meet the others at the sea stack, to regroup and head back to the pack and their home. They only discussed what they had done that night this once, and never told anyone else.

'You know he didn't hear us, right?' Shadow was thoughtful. He was still glad he had done that, despite this fact.

'True, but it felt great to say.' Cloey was content.

Shadow had said, in that moment of growling, 'You failed miserably as a parent, and never listened to your own son.'

And Cloey had said, 'But we'll do better. It won't be hard.'

**_Author's Note:_ ** **The epilogue will be up tomorrow. This is not the end of the book, not quite, and _definitely_ not the end of the overall story. This entire book was just the setup, the opening act, so to speak.**

**As to the multiple responses with the point that the Furies seem to be, as a whole, unusually lax about letting the teens come here at all… it must be kept in mind that their most paranoid and cunning members have given the teens a clean bill of trustworthiness through secret observation and scent leads. They trust their skeptics. Not to mention, they _are_ in the end a bit more relaxed than Vikings by nature, at least in general.**


	39. Chapter 39

Gobber entered his workshop, like normal. And, like normal, he began to attach his forge hammer prosthetic. He stopped when he saw a small corner of parchment sticking out of it. Upon inspection, it appeared to be two carefully folded pieces of parchment, stuffed inside his secret compartment. He tentatively opened them and began to read the first.

_'Gobber. I felt I owed you an apology and an explanation. Not an apology for anything I did. But an apology for not trying harder to explain, at least to you. But I have learned that a picture is worth a thousand words. So, I have only a few things to say._

_First: I hated lying to you more than I hated lying to anyone else in the village. You were like a surrogate father to me, or maybe a crazy uncle. But it was necessary. I only wish it hadn't been._

_Second: I shot down a Night Fury during the last raid in which I used an invention of mine._

_Third: If you want to understand what happened after that if you think you can handle the truth, ask Trader Johann for the book. He'll know which one. If he doesn't, tell him it's the one that made him throw up. He'll definitely remember that. I finished it. A picture is worth a thousand words._

_Fourth: I want you to know that I didn't want to leave Berk the way I did. But I don't regret it, and I won't be coming back. I have a home now, and something better._

_Fifth: I don't go by Hiccup anymore. I was given a better name. See the other parchment for details._

_-Not Hiccup. Not anymore.'_

Gobber reread the letter twice. He carefully set it aside and unfolded the other parchment.

This parchment was much larger and contained an image that made him blink. The image, which took up the entire page, showed Hiccup and four Night Furies. The two largest Night Furies were sitting on their hind legs behind Hiccup. One was bent over slightly, apparently nuzzling his hair with its eyes closed. There was a distinct fractal scar on that one's back.

The other was staring directly at Gobber from the parchment, eyes challenging. It had a paw on Hiccup's shoulder. On Hiccup's immediate right stood a slightly smaller Fury, on all four legs. That one was standing close to Hiccup. And the fourth Fury was in the process of having his head scratched. He was on Hiccup's left and had a distinctive saddle and prosthetic tail. Hiccup's expression in the picture was one of contentment.

The image was incredibly detailed. Over or under each Fury was a set of two names, one strange and one simple. Gobber didn't recognize any of the strange names, but he understood the simple ones below.

Cloey, Shadow, Von, and Toothless, respectively. Hiccup also had a set of two names. The simple one was Maour. As a caption to the entire picture as a whole was a single phrase.

'The Svartur Family.'

_**Author's Note:** _ **No, of course, the story doesn't end here! That would be cruel, and frankly a waste of an immense amount of setup and foreshadowing. This is, however, the end of book 1. Book 2,** _**Living Anonymously** _ **, will begin posting next week at the usual time. I'll also put up a few short deleted scenes at that time here, so don't worry about not seeing it, I'll be sure to mention it there too.**


	40. Chapter 40

**_Author's Note:_** **I figured someone might want to see these, scenes I literally cut out in rewriting, replaced or removed entirely. As such, beware lower quality in some of these, at least in plot and effort put in. Also, _Living Anonymously_** **is up!**

**Deleted scene 1: That Thing Has Wings (chapter 21)**

Toothless was starting to feel the strain of staying ahead of the deceptively quick Queen. 'Too well!' Hiccup's taunts were proving quite inaccurate.

Hiccup pointed at the clouds that were gathered above them. "Time to disappear, then. Stick to the plan!" He accessed Toothless's senses completely. He would need the enhanced vision to see anything in there. Hopefully the Queen wouldn't be able to see them.

Toothless and Svarturkló flew into the clouds, the Queen right behind them. They immediately swerved in opposite directions and put some distance between themselves and the now confused Queen. Toothless could see, and by extension, so could Hiccup. The Queen, however, apparently could not. She twisted around, trying to locate them.

Svarturkló flew out of the concealing clouds and blasted the Queen as she swept past. The Queen bellowed, smoke streaming from a new hole in one of her ponderously huge wings.

Toothless swung in from behind and put an identical hole in her other wing. He grimaced at the minimal damage, a small smoking hole slowly growing in the massive wing. 'Hiccup, this is going to take a lot of shots.'

"Just make sure you save one. We need it to end this." Hiccup was, apart from working the tailfin, stuck watching. There was nothing more he could do. This was all Toothless and Svarturkló.

The two Furies put more and more holes in the Queen's wings. The Queen was having a harder and harder time even hovering, as her wings became less effective. But it took a lot of plasma blasts to get to that point. The Furies were both almost out of shots.

Toothless had two shots left. He was going to use one more on the Queen's wings, but before he could, she changed tactics in frustration.

Rather than wait to try and catch a Fury blasting her, the Queen instead decided to just spew in as many directions as possible. She whipped her massive flames around in random directions, an attack that was fast and unpredictable.

Toothless barely dodged it. Hiccup looked back in fear that the tailfin had caught, but it had just barely avoided the flames. Still, that had been far too close. "Okay, time to see if this works."

Toothless flew into the Queen's vision, and the flew away. The Queen followed him, and he angled into a dive. She copied him. He was moving as fast as he could, but he was barely keeping ahead of her.

The Queen was done with these pests. This one at least would die right now. She couldn't figure out how he flew anymore anyway, although he clearly did. She inhaled, building up the massive cloud of gas used for her fire.

Hiccup could see their death approaching as the cloud of green gas built up in the Queen's throat. "Hold, hold…"

'I can't wait any longer!' Toothless objected, terrified.

"Not yet!" Hiccup responded, knowing this needed to be perfect. Another split second passed. "Now Toothless!" He yelled a moment before the gas reached its peak.

Toothless spun in midair, and fired a plasma blast directly into the Queen's throat, igniting the massive cloud of explosive gas prematurely.

Hiccup had gotten the idea from something Toothless had told him the day Astrid killed the Terror, and he got his friend to talk about the Terrors dead by his claws. He had been horrified at the variety of ways the Queen had killed Terrors using Toothless. This was one of her methods of execution. Having Toothless ignite their gas right before they fired at him. It wasn't lethal for Terrors, but it left the little dragons stunned, unable to escape whatever came next. Hiccup had remembered that, and was counting on the explosion to at least stun the Queen, long enough for her to not be able to pull out of the dive with her ripped wings. It would be fitting to kill her with the same trick she used on Terrors.

What Hiccup hadn't been counting on was the fireball engulfing the Queen, and her exploding into a quickly expanding cloud of flames as she hit the ground.

Toothless was just barely able to avoid the expanding cloud of fire, but he was clipped by a chunk of the Queen that had been propelled by the explosion. It hit him in the wing and made him lose control. They hit the ground hard.

**Reason for removal/replacement: Too much like canon, by my own opinion.**

**Deleted Scene 2: Surprising Apology (Chapter 23)**

'And I think no less of anyone for admitting weakness, especially when it is no fault of their own.' Her eyes glanced up to gauge Hiccup's reaction. She seemed sincerely ashamed.

Hiccup was very pleasantly surprised. He supposed he really would need to get used to living around people other than Vikings. Admitting fault and apologizing was not something he expected when he was the one who had slowed them down, and no Viking would say what Svarturkló had said about weakness. He preferred this way of thinking immensely. It also felt like Svarturkló was starting to warm up to him, at least a little, though that might just be his imagination. He probably still had a ways to go. As Hiccup thought this, he realized he had a new goal. He wanted to get Svarturkló to fully accept him. Ideally, before they found other Night Furies if he had enough time for that. Her fully supporting him in that encounter would be really helpful.

Hiccup realized Svarturkló was still waiting for a reply. "It was my fault too. I should have said something. But I accept your apology. We can both try to learn from our mistakes. I'm just glad I didn't lose any fingers or toes.'

**Reason for removal/replacement: It just didn't work very well. Honestly, I'm only including it here for the sake of completeness, as it's quite a short little fragment.**

**Deleted Scene 3: Catching Up (Chapter 26)**

This needed to be explained carefully. 'I will first tell my part in the events leading up to our freedom. It isn't much. Fifteen years ago, I was out flying when I was ambushed by a Skrill. I won that fight, but it drove me far from our island in the process. I found myself right in the path of a raid being conducted by a swarm of dragons on a Viking village. The raid was an unprovoked attack, and the dragons stole all manner of food.'

Svarturskuggi and Svarturvon eyed her incredulously. Svarturvon spoke up. 'Why? Dragons don't need to steal food. We can just find our own in the ocean.'

Svarturkló shook her head sadly. 'I thought the same. And I made the mistake of being seen by one particular dragon. A Monstrous Nightmare, whose eyes were pure yellow. It saw me, and the entire swarm of dragons immediately attacked. I didn't stand a chance. They knocked me out and carried me far away, back to the Nest. There, they forced me to look into the eyes of a dragon so massive I could only see the head from where I stood. It enslaved me like the rest of them with the power of its mind.'

At that revelation, Svarturvon gasped. Svarturskuggi's eyes had narrowed, anger clearly written across his face for anyone to see.

'I couldn't leave.' She continued quietly, the darkness of those days weighing her down as she remembered. 'I laid Svarturkappi's egg there and raised him there because I couldn't go anywhere else. When he was old enough, the Queen enslaved him too. And that is how we spent most of the last fifteen years. Enslaved to the queen, unable to leave the island unless it was to raid some village to feed her.'

Here Svarturkló shuddered. 'And that wasn't the worst part. The Queen had command of all of her slaves. But she could force her will and perception into one at a time and control their body as if it was her own. That was what she had been doing to the Nightmare with yellow eyes. As the only Night Furies in the nest, Svarturkappi and I were her favorite subjects for this. Because we were strong, fast, stealthy, and because she could apparently teach us to do a very limited version of her tricks.' Svarturkló raised her head. 'And so we were taken on raids, the Queen randomly selecting between us. A month or two before the end, Svarturkappi was taken on a raid... and didn't come back. The raiding dragons who returned said he was dead, shot down by the village they were attacking.'

Svarturvon looked shocked. 'I have a brother?! Is he the Fury that was outside?' Svarturkló realized that Svarturvon hadn't been there when she said that.

Svarturkló nodded. 'Yes. And you should stay quiet and keep listening. In time all of the things you saw will be explained.' She had seen the rising pile of questions Svarturvon was going to ask and wanted to head them off.

'A month or so passed, maybe a bit more. The Queen had taken me on a raid to the same island, where she had her slaves lay waste to what they could in revenge. The next time she decided to raid that island, she used me as normal. But she made a mistake no real Fury would have made. She tried to use my fire nearby when a thunderstorm was about to break.'

Svarturkló saw Svarturskuggi and Svarturvon both wince. That was something most Furies knew. Never be close to a detonating plasma blast when lightning can strike. It has a nasty habit of drawing lightning for some reason. Svarturkló turned and bent, so they both could see the fractal scar that hadn't faded, the result of the strike. 'I paid the price.'

Svarturskuggi snarled angrily, looking ready to destroy something. 'I will kill this Queen myself.' There was true anger behind that promise.

Svarturkló laughed. 'Too late.' She smugly noticed the twin looks of shock on her daughter and mate. 'I'm getting to that. So I crashed. Next thing I know, I'm alive, but in a cell. There's cheering, and then what sounds like the whole nest above me abruptly goes quiet. They opened a door, somehow, and I was staring into an arena, no way out, with hundreds of humans around it. But there was one human in there with me.'

Svarturskuggi interrupted. 'Humans. They might not be the main evil of your story, but they are still as bad as ever. He was likely meant to kill you in front of all of them, as entertainment.'

Svarturkló huffed. 'He was. You may be a bit surprised by what happens next. I didn't want to step into the arena. so I looked at the human in front of me. He was small, had almost no visible muscle, and didn't seem to have a weapon. He came forward and said one word that I understood clearly even though it was said with his lips instead of with the mind. Svarturkló.' Svarturskuggi's mouth dropped open at the sheer impossibility of that. Svarturkló noticed that Svarturvon was confused, but she seemed to be putting together what she had seen outside with Svarturkló's story. She would handle all of this better than her father because of what she had accidentally seen. Svarturkló continued. 'I was intrigued, of course, so I circled around him to catch his scent.'

'What did he smell like?' That was Svarturvon, seeming as if she wanted to verify something. Svarturkló caught her stare and stared back.

'A tiny bit of metal, and fire. But the most overwhelming scents were sadness, determination, and Svarturkappi's scent. The last was overpoweringly strong compared to the others. There was no scent of pain, or blood, or anger.' Svarturkló noticed that Svarturvon nodded to herself at that. 'And the human spoke more. He spoke of Svarturkappi by name and said that he was at the Nest. That we needed to save him. We. Then he took the horns that mark humans as Vikings off and cast them aside. He held out his hand and turned his head. Trusting me. And because of all of that, I trusted him in return. We broke out of the arena, and when a Viking ensnared me on the way out, he pulled a strange weapon off of his back and held them away until I recovered. Then we flew to the Nest.'

Svarturskuggi looked flabbergasted. 'This human must have been insane.'

Svarturkló shook her head. 'Two things convinced me he wasn't. First, he didn't smell insane. Second, he knew our names. There is no way that should have even been possible. But it was. There was clearly something going on that I didn't understand. We finished our journey to the Nest. The human distracted the Queen, who was using Svarturkappi at the moment, while I attacked her true body directly. That forced her to pull all of her consciousness and will back to her body, so she could defend herself. And that set all of the dragons free. After that, the three of us, two Night Furies and a human, fought the Queen. First, the human got her mad.' Svarturkló grinned. 'He and Svarturkappi landed on the Queen's head, and the human stabbed the Queen in the eye with his weapon. Although, he seemed to be unable to do it until he saw the Queen about to kill me. Then, we lured her into the clouds and shot the rest of her eyes out. Once she was blind I lured her into a dive, and let her kill herself against the hard ground.' She stopped. 'And that is how we were freed from the Queen. Or, my part of it. Svarturkappi has far, far more to tell. He and one other. One Svarturvon has already seen, and you should be able to guess.' She made eye contact with Svarturskuggi. 'Svarturkappi!' She called for him.

Svarturskuggi looked troubled as he thought about Svarturkló's last comment. He was distracted by the sight of the son he never knew existed. He saw a young adult Night Fury, with acid green eyes. But he also saw strange devices of leather and iron on his son's back. He didn't really care about that just yet. 'My son?'

Svarturkappi nodded seriously. 'Apparently. Well, most of me anyway.' He seemed uncomfortable. He looked over at Svarturvon. 'And you would be my sister?'

Svarturvon and Svarturskuggi approached him. He definitely smelled like a Svartur Fury. There was no doubt he was who he and Svarturkló said he was. They stared.

Svarturkappi misinterpreted their stares. 'Yeah, about that. A lot has happened.' He swung up the tail he thought they were staring at.

They hadn't been staring at anything in particular, but they were now. 'What is that?' Svarturvon was the first to speak.

Svarturkló cleared her throat. All three looked at her. 'I haven't finished calling people in.' Now was time for the real shock. While they were still off balance. 'Hiccup!'

A lone human entered the cave cautiously, looking around nervously.

**Reason for Removal/Replacement: Too much recap, not enough important information. Note that this conversation still did happen (in essence, if not word-for-word what we see here), we just went to Hiccup's POV and skipped most of it.**

**Deleted Scene 4: Meet the Myrkur Siblings (Chapter 26)**

Myrkursprengja's brother did a double-take. 'Oh.' He considered Hiccup. 'We probably would have gotten you with him.' He indicated Toothless. 'You are on his back.'

His nonchalant attitude and the fact that he and his sister apparently pranked people for fun was giving Hiccup a slight headache. "You two wouldn't happen to be twins, would you?" Was that even possible for dragons? He wasn't sure.

The two incredibly similar looking dragons shook their heads in unison. The male Fury who had yet to introduce himself answered vocally as well as physically. "No. I'm a few years older."

Toothless decided to try and move this along. 'What is your name?'

The male Night Fury puffed himself up, trying to gain every inch of size he could. Myrkursprengja poked him with her paw, and he wheezed as she jabbed his stomach. Once he could breathe again, he introduced himself as Myrkursprenging.

Svarturkló was slowly coming to terms with the fact that she was really here. These two Furies were making the experience feel almost surreal. Being covered in fish guts was not helping with the surreal qualities of the encounter. She decided to cut right to the chase. She wasn't sure how much more weirdness she could take. 'Where do you all live? The island looks deserted.'

Myrkursprenging was the first to answer, by virtue of slapping his sister with his tail as she was about to speak, cutting her off. 'Caves at the base of the island. One cave branch per family and they all connect in the middle. The Svartur branch is on the far side of the mountain," he indicated with his tail working as a pointer, "pretty much the opposite side from here. Just fly all the way around. Svarturskuggi should still be in there. Svarturvon is probably out somewhere, but she never stays out for very long..." He stared intently at Svarturkló. "Because Svarturskuggi doesn't want to lose her like he lost you.' That was said with complete seriousness.

Myrkursprengja slapped her brother in retaliation for earlier. 'Yeah, she doesn't really get out much. I think it's kind of her choice though.'

Svarturkló had had enough of these two for now. 'Well, come on Svarturkappi. We know where to go!' She took off. Toothless stared at her, and then looked back at Hiccup.

"What are you waiting for? Follow her!"

Toothless took off after Svarturkló. The two Myrkur Furies watched them go. Myrkursprengja spoke. "Think we should tell anyone about this?'

Myrkursprenging considered the question. The real question was, which would be more fun? Letting the other Furies find out on their own, or telling them beforehand? 'Nah. Let them find out on their own. Funnier that way. We should get back to the caves to watch!' The two Myrkur Furies winged their way to the caves as well. They would wait in the Myrkur wing of the cave system. Wait for the mayhem to start. A long-lost dragon, an unknown family member of said dragon, and a weird human. This should be interesting.

 **Reason for Removal/Replacement: Things were just too easy this way around. As a side note, the Nótt family did not play a large part in this book at all, originally. Chapters 28-31 were blips in a single chapter, summaries of events that for some reason I didn't consider important. That was corrected, giving us those four extra chapters, and far more defined Nótts going into** **_Living Anonymously_.**

**Deleted Scene 5: Boy, Do We Feel Stupid (Chapter 35)**

"So, let me see if I've got this. After holding the link open, you can hear all dragons now. And if a dragon spends time around humans, they grow to understand human speech. Right? So here's the first part of my question. Berg, do you know our language?"

Fishlegs seemed to be expecting the affirmative answer he received. "Okay, as I thought. You understand me, of course. And I'm assuming you met Maour when he first showed up wherever we are going, and that was probably a while ago, so you've had plenty of time to learn. But, did you understand him when you first met him?"

Berg nodded again. He and Maour had conversed a few times in those first few days.

Fishlegs seemed to be leading up to something. "Was he the first human you've spent time around?"

Berg nodded. Fishlegs frowned. "Wait, so you learned our language from Maour, but somehow were hearing and understanding him from the first day?"

Toothless almost fell out of the sky. 'How did we not notice that?! All the Furies in the pack could understand you from the start, even Nótthljóður, and she's only four! There is no way she had ever seen a human before, but she could understand you... So how?'

Maour was astounded. He had gotten so used to being understood by Toothless and Cloey in their three months of traveling, he had never stopped to realize that the Furies of the pack shouldn't be able to understand him unless they had spent time around humans. And for Furies, that was a very rare occurrence. He needed more information. "Eldurberg, what was it like to hear me talk the first day?"

Eldurberg responded confidently. 'Now that I think about it, it sounded like you were speaking gibberish, but I also heard what you were saying in my mind. I just assumed that that was how you talked, and after a while, I understood your spoken words, and they blended in with the words in my head.' He narrowed his eyes in concentration. 'Say something.'

Maour spoke. "Fishlegs, you nearly knocked Toothless out of the sky with that. Eldurberg has a theory, we'll explain in a second."

Eldurberg snorted. 'Yup, if I concentrate I can still distinguish the two parts. You are talking with your voice and mind, at the same time. Fishlegs doesn't do that, so it must be part of the link.'

Maour slapped his forehead. "You're telling me, all that time I spent trying to talk to Toothless in my head, and I eventually figure out how to do it with any dragon, and didn't realize it for over six months?!" He frowned, and then laughed. "But I still have to talk out loud to do it, apparently. Which was one of the reasons I wanted to figure out how to talk with my mind in the first place. Well, this might be more useful anyway."

Maour looked back at Fishlegs, his voice rueful. "Apparently, another advantage of the link is that I now talk with my voice and mind at the same time. They hear whatever they do or do not understand with their ears, but every dragon understands what I say with my mind. Apparently, I'm doing it subconsciously, and I have to use my voice to speak with my mind. They seem tied together; I tried for months to do the mental part on its own. I always failed at that. But I do this without even thinking about it." He remembered some odd looks Toothless had gotten that first day, always when Toothless translated for him. It was surprising no one had brought it up.

Fishlegs seemed satisfied with that explanation. "But the Furies you spend time around learn our language, so Berg, Blast, and Boom understand us all. That works out pretty well." He sighed. "But it would be nice to understand Berg without a translator. There's only so much that can be said with charades."

**Reason for Removal: This is flat-out irrelevant now, as Maour and Toothless had their individual 'I'm an idiot' moments earlier on. Still, it was fun to think they didn't figure it out for a full half of a year. Unlikely in the extreme, but fun.**

**Deleted Scene 6: An Awkward Goodbye (Chapter 38)**

Fishlegs knew he wouldn't escape the family house within the year if he talked to his mother. So, once he had snuck in, he was greatly relieved to find his father awake, carving a block of wood to pass the sleepless hours of the night. He knew that happened sometimes, but he hadn't hoped to get that lucky.

"Hey, dad." The conversation that passed was a lot less simple than the ones the twins were having. He manages to convince his father that he would be fine and that this was just like him moving to another island, which Vikings were prone to do during times of peace. His father understood there were things he wasn't being told, but he gave Fishlegs his permission anyway, on the condition that Fishlegs write regularly. More for his mother than anything.

Then Fishlegs left, and Fishlegs' father watched in amazement as his fearful son happily greeted the red-eyed Night Fury, showing no signs of apprehension as he got onto a saddle, and they silently flew into the darkness. The elder Ingerman didn't hold with dragons, but anything that his son wasn't afraid of had to be harmless. He would eventually write Fishlegs and ask for an explanation. He knew that Berk would stay the same. That didn't mean he and his wife had to be here as it did.

**Reason for Removal: Simple. It's boring and short. I got called out on this one by my Beta, and honestly he was right. I could have rewritten this scene to be better, but in the end, Fishlegs parents aren't going to play a real role in future stories, so characterizing them here would just be adding yet another personality, so to speak, to an already large roster for no reason. That's also why we didn't see it from his perspective in the last chapter. No need.**

**One last thing. If anyone can come up with a summary for this story that doesn't spoil anything major and fits within the allowed character limit, I'd be interested in seeing it, given the current one is... mediocre at best.**


End file.
